Air apparent: Dave and Sue meet Air Ambulance crew that saved their son’s life
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Dave and Sue Shaw had good reason to be thankful to the Air Ambulance – the life of their son Sam who was airlifted to hospital in Nottingham after a road accident.
He’s now fit, well, and working in America, so couldn’t join mum and dad when Lincolnshire Freemasons visited the Air Ambulance to mark the donation of £500 from each of three lodges and matched funding of £1,500 from the MCF.
Dave’s a member of St Pega in Deeping St James, and was there with Guy Crosskill from Yarborough Lodge in Gainsborough and Provincial Charity Steward Paul Ellis. Another £500 came from Granta Lodge in Grantham.
Sam’s accident involved a freak storm in July 2017 in which a tree had come down and burst through the side of his car, smashing both knees. At Nottingham’s Queen’s Medical Centre Sam had the good fortune to be treated by the professor who looks after ligament damage for Premiership footballers. Even so, his path to recovery involved six months in a wheelchair.
Sue described having been told by Police that Sam had been in an accident. She said: “On the way to Nottingham to be with him we saw the Air Ambulance take off, and I thought ‘that’s my son in there’.”
Now in its 30th year, the Air Ambulance service, still funded entirely by donations, has evolved into the ‘A&E Department of the air’. taking expert treatment from doctors and paramedics to wherever it’s needed in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.
The service also operates a critical car service, which takes A&E treatment into areas the helicopter can’t reach, like urban Nottingham and Lincoln, or during bad flying weather.
