Hi ,

My name is Stephen Harbottle  I'm an Embryologist and in my spare time I ride road bikes and do the odd marathon and triathlon.  Basically I like to keep fit and ride my bike :)

I was involved in a life-changing accident on the 24th May 2017 whilst on a training ride alone in the Lake District and the North West Air Ambulance Service (NWAA) were there to get me to hospital safely and quickly.  It's not over dramatic to say that without their service I may not be in a position to write this message today.  I was unconscious at the time so I don't unfortunately remember my first trip in a helicopter!

I am a bit limited in what I can do at the moment physically as my body is still badly injured but I want to raise some money for NWAA as they are solely reliant on charitable donations and I want to ensure their services remain available to other people finding misfortune in remote areas or far from home.

The events surrounding the last few weeks of my life are rather hazy so I have asked my wife to give more detail; the words below are hers. 

Many thanks for visiting our page.

The 24^th of May 2017 was the worst day of my life. It was the day my husband Stephen didn’t come home from his ride. I remember so vividly the feeling of complete and utter panic when I called Preston Royal Hospital (after wondering why his phone GPS was saying he was 60 miles away from our holiday cottage in the Lake District!) and found out he’d been airlifted there and was in resuss awaiting scans.

Despite the numerous broken bones; ligaments; concussion; cuts and bruises it turned out he was actually quite “lucky”! In fact he’d been extremely lucky thanks to the fast actions of staff at Honister Slate Mine; an amazing Giro helmet; a random car full of doctors who happened to pass by just after his crash; and finally the North West Air Ambulance crew who attended to him at the scene and flew him to Preston Royal Hospital for treatment.

Astonishingly the Air Ambulance receives no government or
Big Lottery Funding. And yet if they didn’t exist we could be in a very different position today. With a baby due this Autumn it doesn’t bear thinking about. I’m sure many other families would agree (the helicopter landed at least five times at the hospital the day after Stephen was admitted). Not only did the crew look
after Stephen at the time but they also came back to see him and let him know where his bike was being kept! We’ve been trying to think how we can thank this amazing charity for what they did and as the weeks have gone by – and Stephen’s beard has gotten more and more out of control as he lay in the hospital bed (to his delight and my horror!) – we had an idea...

At the beginning of July (do I really have to wait this long?!)
Stephen will be shaving his beloved beard to raise funds for the North West Air Ambulance to help them continue their vital work.