A CYCLIST has thanked the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance team for saving her life and said she "would not be alive" without them.
Since the air ambulance’s first flight on July 1, 2007, the doctors, paramedics, pilots, and dispatch assistants who make up the charity’s Critical Care Team have been called out to more than 15,000 emergencies across the region and beyond.
A special celebration was held at their base in Andover today (July 1).
One of those 15,000 patients was 32-year-old Claire Danson from Odiham.
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Claire has always dreamed of becoming a professional triathlete but on August 28, 2019, during a routine cycle ride she collided with a tractor, which left her paralysed from the waist down.
The air ambulance team attended the accident and provided Claire with specialist treatment before flying her to Southampton hospital.
She said: “One day I went out as I always did, but I had a collision with a tractor on that day. I came round a corner I had been around hundreds of times and unfortunately the tractor was there at the same time as I was.”
Claire was knocked off her bike and said she is forever grateful to the team who saved her life.
She added: “Because of where I was it was quite a tricky landing for them because I was under trees, but they came out and got me to hospital very quickly. I think had they not come I probably would not be here today and my family might have got the call to say 'I didn't make it'".
Since the incident, Claire has been determined not to let her accident stop her from reaching her dream.
She added: “I was on a ventilator and they give you letterboards so you can spell out words. The first word I pointed at was 'sorry' and the second was 'para athlete' because I knew instantly that this was not going to be it.”
15 years on from the air ambulance’s first flight, the crews on board are tasked to around four emergency missions every day and are able to provide advanced life-saving care usually found in a hospital emergency department.
Among those celebrating was lead critical care paramedic John Gamblin, who has worked with the team for 12 years.
He said: “I am so excited about this milestone today because it is incredible and a real opportunity to look back on where we have come from.
"We started in a portacabin and to look at the service we have now where we bring world-class critical care on the streets and in the fields of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight is quite incredible.”
Meanwhile, Richard Corbett, chief executive of the charity said he is extremely grateful to everyone who fundraises and donates and makes the work the crew does possible.
It costs the service, which receives no government funding, an average of £3,320 for every emergency mission.
Those who want to support the life-saving charity for its 15th birthday can donate via the website: hiowaa.org.
Claire plans to cycle from London to Paris later this month and said thanks to the team she is "back doing what she loves".
she has also set her sights on the Paralympics.
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