This page has been created on behalf of the Ianniello’s fundraising team which will be taking part in the Green Park Royal Berkshire 3k Mini Marathon on Sunday 17th May 2015, to raise money for the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance Trust, which is a local charity very close to our hearts.

The team will consist of 8 members. Each of the Ianniello family, Gina Ianniello, Juliet Ianniello, Antonio Ianniello, Rianna Ianniello, Alexander Ianniello, Amber Ianniello, as well as Rianna’s fiancé Jordan Saverton and close family friend Lindsay Pinker.

We will be aiming to raise a target of £1,000 for the Trust and will be overwhelmed to be able to achieve this, in order to give something back to such a great cause.

A lot of people that know our family will know what we went through back in August 2012, but for those who don’t here is the story behind why we have chosen the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance Trust as our charity.

On Saturday 18th August 2012, Juliet (46), Rianna (17), Alex (15) and Jordan (18) were involved in a serious road traffic collision on the B4047 on the Burford Road near Minster Lovell in Oxfordshire. It was a normal sunny day and they were on the way to Witney, which is roughly 6 miles from the family home in Carterton. They were driving along the B4047, which is a normal national speed limit country road and were doing roughly 50mph in a small Renault Clio, with Juliet and Alex in the front and Rianna and Jordan in the back. They were approaching a junction, and a white Range Rover Evoque pulled into the middle of the road and was waiting to turn across their path into the junction. It wasn’t until they got roughly 100m from the junction that the driver of the Range Rover, decided to turn across them. As it was so last minute and was never enough time for the Clio to be able to slow down, the Clio collided head on with the Range Rover.

Five ambulances and a rapid-response vehicle arrived in eight minutes and an air ambulance was brought in from the Isle of Wight. Firefighters from Witney and Kidlington also attended the incident, just after 7pm. Juliet had to be cut free and air lifted to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, due to the severity of her injuries, as she was the driver of the Clio, with Alex, Rianna and Jordan also taken there in Ambulances. They all sustained a number of serious injuries. Juliet had her left ankle completely crushed, broke her spine, had a ruptured lung, crushed her left hand, had broken ribs both sides as well as deep cuts to her left leg. Alex broke his arm, eye socket, cheek bone, and sacrum and had severe stomach bruising from the seat belt. He was also knocked unconscious during the accident. Rianna broke her coccyx, broke and dislocated her collar bone, due to the impact of the seat belt on her during the crash and Jordan was taken to intensive care with internal stomach bruising and bleeding from the impact of the seat belt, along with multiple other cuts and bruises.

They eventually managed to move Alex to children’s intensive care, Jordan to Intensive care and Rianna to a Trauma ward from Resuscitation in A & E. However, Juliet was immediately operated on, both her left ankle, her spine and her hand, as she had an unstable fracture in her spine and was millimeters from being paralyzed. After hours of surgery into the night, they managed to stabilize her spine with metal rods, completely fused her left ankle by inserting a metal frame and put wires

into her hand. She also had a chest drain inserted, to drain the fluid from her collapsed lung. Juliet was in hospital in the first instance for 5 weeks and the other 3 for roughly a week each.

It was a very traumatic time for the whole family and completely has to this day changed our lives.  We are now almost 2 and half years down the line and still having to deal with the consequences of the accident and some will stick with us for life. Each family member has had to undergo counseling and some specific therapies in order to not only cope with the physical effects of the accident, but the mental and emotional side of it to. Rianna’s injuries have meant she is unable to work in her chosen career of hairdressing and complete her apprenticeship. Juliet’s injuries have meant she has yet to be able to return to work and due to her injuries and the medication she is on is now classed as disabled and unfit to work. She is unable to walk more than 200 meters without being in unbearable pain. The fusion of her ankle has meant that one leg is now shorter than the other and she has to walk with a stick and sometimes use a wheelchair. The hospitals in the local area have been almost like a second home to our family over the past couple of years since the accident and to this day Juliet and Rianna are still undergoing treatment and operations. 

There is so much more detail we could go into and it is unimaginable what we have had to go through. You never think something like this would happen to you, but it’s something you have to struggle through together and we are so proud of each other. 

To be able to raise money for our local Air Ambulance Trust would mean so much to us, as in essence they saved Juliet’s life, due to the quick response, allowing her to get to hospital and be operated on so quickly. Therefore, if anyone can donate any money what so ever to us and help us achieve our £1000 target we would be so appreciative.

We are eternally grateful for all the help and support we have had and continue to get. We are very lucky that we still have each other, as we are fully aware it could have been much worse. 

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