Thanks for accessing my fundraising page!
As many of you are aware, I was involved in a horrific road traffic accident in January 2007. A grain lorry lost control behind me whilst I was stationary in a queue of traffic and ended up landing on top of my car, crushing my car and trapping me inside. In addition it spilled it's 15 tonne load of grain meaning that those first on the scene didn't actually realise there was a car underneath the lorry.
I was trapped in my car for about 90 minutes during which time the emergency services had to dig the car out of the grain, stabilise the lorry, jack my car roof up and cut away the doors and steering wheel in order to get to me.
The Air Ambulance were great all the way through, constantly re-assuring me and explaining what was happening and why. Without their intervention I would have had to endure a trip by road to hospital which would have exacerbated my spinal injuries. It took me just 8 minutes to get to Maidstone hospital where there was a team of Doctors waiting to receive me as the crew had phoned ahead.
I will be forever indebted to the Air Ambulance for helping me when I needed them most and it was while lying in hospital that I decided to do something to raise funds and awareness for them. For some reason that I cannot make out to this day, I decided the best way of achieving this would be to pound the streets of London for 26 miles in April!!
The Kent Air Ambulance is a wonderful organisation and the crew risk their lives each day to help the people in our region. You just never know when you may need the help of the Air Ambulance and because they rely purely on donations (they're not supported by either the Government or National Lottery) they are always in need of our help.
Some Kent Air Ambulance facts:
Each crew consists of a pilot, a paramedic and a doctor
Each mission costs over £1,000
It costs £1,500,000 a year to keep the helicopter operational
They attended 596 incidents in 2007
The London Marathon is a huge event for me personally as well. I recall being trapped in my car and wondering whether I would ever be able to walk again and so to have a chance of completing such a high profile event just over a year later is a remarkable feat.
If you are able, I would be very grateful for your sponsorship as it will be going to such a worthy cause.
Thanks for reading this.
Simon
