Strewth! Yorkshire Air Ambulance’s favourite Aussie pilot Chris Attrill is leaving the rapid response emergency service after a decade of life-saving.

Chris, who was born on the Isle of Wight, moved to Australia as a toddler. After a period serving in the Australian Army Infantry he came to the UK and ‘fell into flying’ when he joined the Army Air Corps in 1983.

“Flying was not part of the original game plan but once I got into the air I knew I had found the right role for me and within two years of joining the British army I was flying,” said Chris, who became an Air Crewman in 1985, completing his Pilots course four years later.

“A crewman in the army is the best apprenticeship you can have as it’s all the fun without the responsibility – if anything goes wrong it’s the pilot’s fault.

“But you were 50% hands-on most of the time and it was one, long mentoring process which prepared you so well.”

Chris spent 21 years in the Army serving everywhere from Belize to Bosnia, and from the Falklands to Northern Ireland. After leaving the military he became a HEMS pilot, joining Yorkshire Air Ambulance in October 2008.

“Army pilots tend to slip into HEMS flying quite easily as we are used to flying smaller multi-role aircraft into small places,” he added.

“You are also part of another very close-knit team. As the air ambulance paramedics all take an aviation module to become Technical Crew Members, it means it really is a team effort. If you need a hand getting the aircraft in and out and refuelling they can help, and if they need a hand on the ground the pilots muck in.”

Chris, 60, was a member of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance crew which responded to the Cumbrian massacre in 2010 when lone gunman, Derrick Bird, killed 12 people and injured 11 others before killing himself.

He added: “Doing this job is a very humbling experience and on some days it’s just really very hard. With the Cumbrian shootings unfortunately every job that day was a fatality which was tough.

“But I have been very blessed during my time at Yorkshire Air Ambulance to work with and meet a lot of great people. Not only that, we get to fly in such a fantastic and varied landscape.

“The charity is always looking to provide a better service for the people of Yorkshire – whether it’s new aircraft or night-time flying – and it really has been a privilege and a pleasure to be a YAA pilot.”

In line with HEMS rules, which mean single pilots have to retire at 60, Chris has left Yorkshire Air Ambulance but will continue his flying career at Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance which runs dual pilot operations.

Director of Aviation Capt Andy Lister said: “It has been an absolute pleasure to work alongside Chris and he will be sadly missed at the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. On behalf of everyone here I would like to wish him all the best with his new opportunity working with our colleagues at Lincs & Notts.”

Ian Dawson had just come off Junction 5 of the M18 on his way home from his job as a postman in Brigg when very low blood sugar levels caused a ‘hypo’ attack.

The Type 1 diabetic was catapulted 30 metres through the air, smashed his legs into a road sign before landing on the other side of the motorway junction roundabout barrier.

“My sugar levels must have plummeted on the ride home but I was concentrating so much I didn’t realise it was affecting me until I heard a loud bang, which was me hitting the sign, and I remember lying on the ground and pretty much accepting death,” said 51-year-old Ian.

“My legs were just in a knot but there was an angel on my shoulder that day who literally saved my life.”

That ‘angel’ was off-duty District Nurse Sister Kathryn Bebb who pulled over to help. “I just grabbed my nursing bag from the boot of the car and followed this girl over the barrier to where Ian was on the ground,” said 30-year-old Kathryn from Cusworth.

“When I got there his legs were really badly smashed. I got a couple of lads to call the ambulance and these other two girls helped me as I cut his trousers off.

“He was bleeding quite heavily out of one of his legs where his artery had been severed so I tourniqueted his leg and we applied compression and just kept talking to Ian. He said he was a diabetic and needed some sugar so someone got a can of coke from their car which helped.”

Kathryn, who works for Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust (RDaSH), added: “His injuries were very gruesome with a lot of bones protruding but these girls, and everyone who stopped to help, were amazing and it just goes to show what people can do.”

Ian was airlifted to the Northern General Hospital, Sheffield, by Yorkshire Air Ambulance but doctors were unfortunately unable to save his shattered left leg which was amputated below the knee.

The accident happened in April last year, and Ian has gone through months of painful hospital treatment and physiotherapy with more to come.

“Everyone from the Air Ambulance to the hospital staff have just been fantastic and I can’t thank them enough but this has just completely changed my life and it has been very hard at times,” added the father-of-two Ian.

“My false leg is OK but I still have a lot of pain with my right leg because of the tissue scarring and it’s very difficult to walk, but while I don’t think I will be able to walk without crutches, I’m hoping things will improve a lot.”

He and partner of 20 years Karen got married in June and the couple are looking forward to a new life when they move into a bungalow in Wheatley, Doncaster.

Ian’s accident features in Monday night’s episode of Helicopter ER, the award-winning UKTV programme which follows the life-saving work of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

The programme, which airs at 9pm on UKTV’s real life channel Really, also features the dramatic attempts to save the life of a grocer who collapsed and stopped breathing while loading his van and a boy’s daring jump into the water at Whitby harbour which ends in a serious injury

Helicopter ER is made by York-based Air Television who have won two Royal Television Society awards for their work on the compelling series.

Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) serves 5million people across Yorkshire and carries out over 1,300 missions every year. The charity operates two, state-of-the-art Airbus H145 helicopters and needs to raise £12,000 every day to keep saving lives.

Photo caption:  Ian Dawson being treated at the scene of the crash and Doncaster district nursing sister Kathryn Bebb who stopped to give life-saving help.

First aid training as a coastguard could have helped Filey man Paul Tyndall to save his wife’s leg after she suffered multiple fractures in a freak accident.

A family Father’s Day walk to Roseberry Topping, near Great Ayton, ended in a dramatic air lift to hospital for Paul’s wife Ann after she slipped when walking down from the Captain Cook Monument. She broke her leg in three places below the knee as well as dislocating her ankle in the fall.

“It was just bad luck, “said 55-year-old Ann. “I had walking boots and poles but it was very steep as we were coming back down through the woods and I just slipped.

“My leg below the knee was at 90 degrees as well as my ankle and I had no feeling in my foot. I take a blood thinning drug for a heart condition and, because of where we were, getting medical help and then getting me to hospital was not going to be easy.

“So, Paul felt he had no choice but to try and straighten my leg. It was very painful for me, but also very traumatic for him, but my surgeon said if he hadn’t done it I could have lost my leg.”

Cleveland Mountain Rescue and Yorkshire Air Ambulance medics got Ann stretchered and, with the help of family members, she was carried to the waiting helicopter before being airlifted to the James Cook University Hospital for surgery on her shattered leg and ankle.

Paul, who has been part of the Filey Coastguard Team for over ten years, added: “It was just awful. I’d never done anything like that before but once Ann said she had no feeling in her foot, I knew her leg needed to be straightened quickly.

“I think you just find strength from somewhere but really I knew I didn’t have any choice. It was very much a relief when the mountain rescue and air ambulance guys turned up.”

Ann, an activities coordinator in a Scarborough retirement living centre, has now fully recovered and is enjoying long walks once more. She and her family are now raising money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and Cleveland Mountain Rescue charities.

Paul and their daughter Lucy, who was at the scene with her partner, will be taking part in next month’s Great North Run half marathon. If you would like to support them go to their Just Giving Page https://www.justgiving.com/teams/lucyandpaulgnr

Ann’s freak accident features in Monday’s episode of Helicopter ER, the award-winning UKTV programme which follows the life-saving work of Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

The episode, which airs at 9pm on Really, also follows the efforts to save the life of an elderly pedestrian knocked down outside a GP surgery and a motorcyclist who suddenly collapsed while riding in the Peak District.

Helicopter ER is made by York-based Air Television who have won two Royal Television Society awards for their work on the compelling series. You can catch up with any episodes you miss on UKTV Play.

Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) serves 5million people across Yorkshire and carries out over 1,300 missions every year. The charity operates two, state-of-the-art Airbus H145 helicopters and needs to raise £12,000 every day to keep saving lives.

Photo caption:  Ann Tyndall being treated at the scene of her accident and being carried to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance aircraft.

Two camping trips by a young Cleveland family – a year apart – have both ended in call outs by Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Emily Moffitt wanted to recreate much-loved childhood camping holidays with her partner and their two young sons. But a taster trip to a North Yorkshire campsite in 2016 nearly ended in tragedy when their gas stove exploded.

“I was finishing cooking up breakfast when all of a sudden the stove went pop and there were flames,” said 23-year-old Emily. “I was sat on a camping chair and the boys were next to me and I instinctively stood up and turned to protect them.

“I got them over the windbreak to safety and then realized that my legs were on fire and dropped to the ground. I think with all the adrenalin I didn’t initially realise how bad it was but then when I tried to move away my jeans were stuck to my legs. The pain was just terrible.

“An off-duty nurse who was there cut my jeans off and wrapped my legs in cling film and soaked them with a hosepipe until the air ambulance arrived. Everyone at the campsite was amazing and I can’t thank them enough.”

Yorkshire Air Ambulance paramedics applied special burn shields to her legs before Emily was taken by road to hospital in Harrogate. She had intensive treatment in the burns unit for flash burns to her legs and right hand but thankfully did not require skin grafts.

After recovering from that ordeal Emily and her partner Ross decided to give camping another try and last summer took their boys Oscar, then 3, and two-year-old Oliver away for a weekend to a campsite near Ampleforth, North Yorkshire.

“We took a hot plate instead of a gas stove and everything was going well until Oliver became ill,” added Emily of Acklam, Middlesborugh.

“He was on his Dad’s knee when he suddenly vomited and went floppy. He wasn’t responding to us and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. It was just the worst experience of my life, so frightening.

“There was no phone signal so his Dad ran with him to the main park reception who dialed 999 and the Air Ambulance arrived to us again.”

Thankfully by the time the air crew arrived little Oliver was starting to recover from his fit – a febrile convulsion brought on by tonsillitis – and he was taken by road to hospital in York.

“The Air Ambulance got to us a full 15 minutes before the road ambulance and we are just so very grateful to them. It’s just the peace of mind knowing that if you need them they are there – although we’re not planning any more camping trips!”

Emily’s camping nightmares feature in Monday’s episode of Helicopter ER, the award-winning UKTV programme which follows the life-saving work of Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

The episode, which airs at 9pm on Really, also features a flying doctor carrying out a complex medical procedure on the roadside after a biker stops breathing after a serious accident and a farmer who gets his hand impaled on a steel spike in his pigsty.

Helicopter ER is made by York-based Air Television who have won two Royal Television Society awards for their work on the compelling series. You can catch up with any episodes you miss on UKTV Play.

Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) serves 5million people across Yorkshire and carries out over 1,300 missions every year. The charity operates two, state-of-the-art Airbus H145 helicopters and needs to raise £12,000 every day to keep saving lives.

The love of his partner and a sense of humour are helping Alan Brigg slowly rebuild his life after suffering a catastrophic brain injury in a motorbike accident.

Alan and five friends were returning from a regular morning bike ride to Penrith on Easter Saturday last year when he was hit by a Land Rover pulling out onto the A65 near Ingleton.

The impact caused devastating injuries which have completely changed Alan’s life, but he might not have survived at all without an off-duty intensive care nurse who got out of her car to help and gave CPR after Alan’s heart stopped.

Yorkshire Air Ambulance were quickly on scene with paramedics and Emergency Medicine Consultant Dr Chris Srinivasan who anaethetised Alan at the roadside before airlifting him to the nearest major trauma centre at Preston.

Alan suffered multiple fractures including a broken pelvis, elbow, 10 broken ribs, collapsed lung and a spinal break but the devastating damage was to the 42-year-old’s brain.

He spent a total of 11 months in hospital in Preston and Airedale before moving into a bungalow in Skipton with his partner of five years, Sue McIntyre.

Sue made the nearly 160-mile round trip every day for 17 weeks to visit Alan in the Royal Preston Hospital and is with him every step of the way on his long road to recovery.

Something not lost on Alan, who proposed to her up to 70 times a day after the accident – and she said yes every time!

“What’s happened is just so huge and scary. I didn’t know a thing about brain injuries before but I’ve had a lot of support and Alan has come such a long way,” said Sue, 51 who works in Asda at Shipley.

“His short-term memory is still very bad and some of the longer-term memories are mixed up but he is slowly improving and the main thing he has the same personality, and sense of humour, although he’s a lot more soppy!”

Alan who has ongoing physiotherapy and neuropsychology support, has been left wheelchair bound, and although he is now able to walk a few steps with a frame, his immobility has been hard for both him and Sue, who were avid walkers before the accident.

She added: “We were just never in. Every weekend we were out hiking or cycling and so not being active has obviously been very frustrating for Alan.

“But, we hope he will have a degree of mobility and we’re getting an off-road wheelchair which will be fantastic.”

Alan was working as a Spares Coordinator at Spiroflow UK, Clitheroe, when the accident happened. His former work colleagues raised nearly £1,000 to support his rehabilitation and motorbiking friend Lee Boocock – who was riding with Alan last Easter – is aiming to cycle from Leeds to London next month to raise money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Alan’s accident features in Monday’s episode of Helicopter ER, the award-winning UKTV programme which follows the life-saving work of Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Sue added: “We have spoken about his accident and we are just so grateful to the nurse who gave him CPR and the Air Ambulance doctor and paramedics who kept him alive and got him so quickly to hospital.

“I’ve watched the TV programmes and you just never think one day it could be you. We are just so fortunate to have an Air Ambulance service and if Alan had had to go by road ambulance I don’t think he would be here today.”

Helicopter ER, which airs at 9pm on Really, is made by York-based Air Television who have won two Royal Television Society awards for their work on the compelling series. You can catch up with any episodes you miss on UKTV Play.

Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) serves 5million people across Yorkshire and carries out over 1,300 missions every year. The charity operates two, state-of-the-art Airbus H145 helicopters and needs to raise £12,000 every day to keep saving lives.

If you would like to donate to Lee Boocock’s Just Giving page go to: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/lee-boocock1

An auction at the Cheese and Dairy Section of the show raised a whopping £6,403.25 which was handed over to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance outside the Yorkshire Event Centre yesterday. The auction is held every year on the last day of the Great Yorkshire Show giving visitors the chance to bid for a round of their favourite cheese.  Once the judging has taken place,  its over to the public to put in their highest bid to be in with a chance of taking home some of the country’s best cheese. This year saw the most money ever raised at the auction, over the years it has raised thousands of pounds for charity, and has fast become a favourite with visitors at the Show. A flying visit from the Yorkshire Air Ambulance itself took place during the handover.

Judy Bell MBE Shepherds Purse said: “Its an amazing amount of money rasied, every year the cheese auction gets more popular at the Show. The support from the general public is incredible and its fanstatic to be able to give this money to such a great cause.”

Nigel Pulling Chief Executive of Yorkshire Agricultural Society said: “As a charity ourselves we are proud to be able to give this amount of money to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance who provides an essential service to rural communities across Yorkshire.”

Helen Callear, Regional Fundraising Manager North said  “We were delighted to hear we had been selected to receive the funds from the Great Yorkshire Show cheese auction but we were really staggered by the amount. Huge thanks on behalf of the YAA to the Yorkshire Agricultural Society for their generous donation. Many of our patients are farmers who work in remote locations under difficult conditions and we know they appreciate the knowledge that the YAA is there for them. It is lovely that the Society supports us in turn with this tremendous gesture.”

Adrian Hirst, was out on his motorbike with his wife Karen, riding pillion when they were hit by another vehicle.  The accident left him at the roadside with life-threatening injuries including a severed spinal cord, broken pelvis, hip, neck, shoulder, wrist and ribs as well as a bleed on his brain.  Karen was also badly injured in the accident.

On 11th March last year, it was the Critical Care Team from Yorkshire Air Ambulance who flew to Adrian and performed the hospital-level treatment on him which saved his life. The Team’s advanced life-saving treatment continued on-board the rapid helicopter transfer to hospital, effectively saving his life a second time.

Adrian said: ” If it wasn’t for the skill and dedication of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance team, I’m sure I wouldn’t be here today. They saved my life at the scene of my accident and then whisked me off to Leeds General Infirmary. During the 10-minute flight I slipped into a coma as my lungs collapsed, and so every second saved by the speed of the helicopter transfer, the equipment on-board and the skills of the paramedics were all vital as my life hung in the balance.”

Adrian, who worked for the Valuation Office Agency at the time of his accident, was joined by colleagues to launch a national fundraising partnership which will see the VOA’s 3,000 employees actively fundraising for all UK Air Ambulances via the Association of Air Ambulance Charity.

The VOA aims to raise around £50,000 nationally to support the work of the UK’s local air ambulance’s through a range of air-themed and other challenge events, office and social activities, payroll giving and much more.

VOA senior executives Thomas Lindie, Operations Director, David Nicholls, Head of People and Advisory Services, and Jo Moore, Leeds Office Manager, accompanied Adrian and Karen to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance Airbase visit at Nostell Priory near Wakefield.

Thomas Lindie commented: “It’s been an absolute privilege to attend today’s launch of the charity partnership between the VOA and the Association of Air Ambulances Charity. We’ve all seen, heard or read of the lifesaving services provided by air ambulances, but to attend this event with Adrian today really brings home just what an amazing service this is.”

Abby Barmby, Director of Marketing & Communications of Yorkshire Air Ambulance added: “We were absolutely delighted to welcome both Adrian and Karen to our Nostell Airbase to meet Chris, who was the Pilot who flew Adrian to hospital. We are very humbled that the VOA have now chosen to support the work of local air ambulance charities throughout the UK, including Yorkshire Air Ambulance. We were delighted to welcome everyone to Nostell to launch the partnership today.”

Adrian also added: “I remained in a coma for a month and am now in a wheelchair. However, I am recovering well from all my other injuries. Yorkshire Air Ambulance saved my life and I hope the national partnership between the Association of Air Ambulances Charity and the Valuation Office Agency can help save many more right across the UK.”

Photo caption: 

Seated in the helicopter: Karen Hirst (Adrian’s wife).

2^nd row L-R: James Stubley (YAA Paramedic), Cpt Chris Attrill (YAA Pilot), Jo Moore (VOA Leeds Office Manager), Nikki Wright (Association of Air Ambulances), Thomas Lindie (VOA Operations Director). David Nicholls (VOA Head of People and Advisory Services)

Front row: Tony Wilks (YAA Paramedic), Dr Becky Isles (YAA Consultant), Adrian Hirst (patient)

Chris Cundall was called to a farm close to his Scarborough practice to look at a bull that was lame. The 63-year-old went to examine the animal which first crushed him against one wall before spinning around and pounding him again into the back wall of the enclosure.

Chris, a vet with 40 years’ experience, suffered a spinal fracture which impinged on his spinal cord leaving him partially paralysed from the waist down.

“I don’t really remember the accident itself but, as I was on the ground waiting for the bull to come at me again, I do remember thinking well, this is probably it,” said Chris.

“I wasn’t frightened. I’ve had a very good life, but the animal never came at me again. At that time my ribs hurt more than my back but when I could not feel my legs I knew I was buggered.”

Chris was airlifted to the James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, by Yorkshire Air Ambulance and his accident features in the first episode of a new series of Helicopter ER, the award-winning UKTV programme which follows the life-saving work of the rapid response emergency charity.

The accident, which happened a year ago, has left the popular vet in a wheelchair with an ‘incomplete’ paralysis.

Chris, whose wife Jill runs a livery yard at West Ayton, has ridden horses all his life and is a veteran point-to-point and amateur National Hunt rider having competed for 43 seasons. He attends the state-of-the-art rehabilitation unit at Jack Berry House, run by the Injured Jockey Fund, twice a week, and is determined to walk again.

“I do a lot of exercise and I can move my legs a little now and weight bear with just a little support,” added Chris, who has had to move out of the family’s Sherburn farm into a wheelchair accessible house.

“I try to read complete chapters of books standing up and, I don’t know whether I will improve any more, but my goal is to be able to walk properly with a Zimmer frame.

“It is obviously incredibly hard on me and my family but there are people who are much worse off than me and I’m definitely a glass half full kind of person.”

With a lot of true Yorkshire grit and determination Chris is planning to do a sponsored walk on a Zimmer frame – either at different racecourses or between the penultimate and last fence of one course to raise money for both Yorkshire Air Ambulance and the IJF.

He added: “The Injured Jockey Fund have been brilliant and having Jack Berry House just a few miles away has made such a difference.

“There is a definite time window for this kind of injury which is where the air ambulance comes into their own. Living where we do and being such keen riders we already knew just how important Yorkshire Air Ambulance is. It is a fantastic charity.”

The third series of Helicopter ER starts on Monday (July 23) at 9pm on UKTV’s real life channel Really. The first episode also features a young girl who suffers major facial injuries in a road accident and a helicopter landing on the 18^th hole of a golf course to treat a player who suffers a heart attack.

Helicopter ER is made by York-based Air Television who have won two Royal Television Society awards for their work on the compelling series.

Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) serves 5million people across Yorkshire and carries out over 1,300 missions every year. The charity operates two, state-of-the-art Airbus H145 helicopters and needs to raise £12,000 every day to keep saving lives.

A young Harrogate woman is rebuilding her life after suffering major face injury in a road accident.

Georgia Meyer, 20, was the front seat passenger in a car which left the A61 near Ripon last June and crashed into a telegraph pole. The impact caused a deep wound across the right side of her face which only narrowly missed her eye.

An off-duty paramedic bandaged Georgia’s face before Yorkshire Air Ambulance paramedics arrived. The medical team struggled to stem the bleeding and she was airlifted to specialists at Leeds General Infirmary where she underwent major maxillofacial surgery.

“I don’t really remember the crash and at first I did not feel the pain as I had sliced through lots of nerves in my face, but when they were trying to stop the bleeding it was agony,” said the former pupil of St John Fisher School, Harrogate.

“The air ambulance paramedics were really great at the scene and then checked up on me after I had had the operation to make sure I was Ok which was lovely. In fact, all of the NHS doctors and nurses were just amazing.”

It’s been a long road to recovery for Georgia coping with both the physical and mental scars of the accident, with many hospital visits and counselling.

But brave Georgia, who had previously dropped out of university, has been determined to turn her life around and has just completed the first year of a Criminology with Psychology degree courses at Leeds Beckett University.

She added: “It has taken me a full year to properly recover. I used to get really bad panic attacks and stress out, especially when people touched my face, but counselling has helped and I try not to let the scars get me down.

“I’ve got a great family and friends and going back to university was the best decision I could have made. I would really like to work either in prisons on rehabilitation programmes or do youth counselling.

“Although the scars are a bit of a reminder I try not to let it get me down and I know there are options such as laser treatment if I want a little later on.”

Georgia’s accident features in the first episode of a new series of Helicopter ER, the award-winning UKTV programme which follows the life-saving work of Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

The third series starts on Monday (July 23) at 9pm on UKTV’s Really channel. The episode also features a vet left paralysed after being attacked by a bull he was treating and a landing on the 18^th hole of a golf course to treat a player who suffers a heart attack.

Helicopter ER is made by York-based Air Television who have won two Royal Television Society awards for their work on the compelling series. You can catch up with any episodes you miss on UKTV Play.

Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) serves 5million people across Yorkshire and carries out over 1,300 missions every year. The charity operates two, state-of-the-art Airbus H145 helicopters and needs to raise £12,000 every day to keep saving lives.

Super Mum Barbara Gardner is knitting her thanks to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance crew that helped save her son’s life after a freak accident.

The 65-year-old from Kirk Ella, Hull, has sold hundreds of knitted baby clothes and soft toys to reach the £1,000 mark of her £4,000 fund raising target for the rapid response emergency charity.

Her son Steven Turner’s arm was badly crushed when his articulated lorry was blown over in strong winds on the A64 by the Bramham Park roundabout, near Leeds, in November, 2015.

“I was taking a full, 43-and-a-half ton wagon from Durham to Leeds and was just coming off the A1 to join the A64 at Bramham Roundabout when a strong gust of wind hit the curtains on the side which created a sail effect,” said Steven from Burstwick, East Yorkshire.

“It took about eight seconds to blow the lorry over with my cab the last to go. We landed on the central reservation and my head hit the driver’s door window which broke and my arm went out and got trapped under the wagon.”

The 42-year-old experienced driver suffered major blood loss and multiple trauma injuries and emergency services on the scene fighting to free him and get him to hospital had little hope that Steven’s life – let alone his arm – could be saved.

However, he and his grateful Mum firmly believe the actions of Yorkshire Air Ambulance paramedic Matt Syrat made all the difference.

“I told Matt I had had some pins and needles in my arm and so he did everything he could to save it. He got a tourniquet round the top of my arm and shoulder to control the bleeding,” added Steven.

With worsening winds making it incredibly difficult to fly Steven to the major trauma centre at Leeds General Hospital, Matt went with him by land ambulance where surgeons battled to save his shattered arm in a 12-hour operation.

“I had 300 stitches and it looked like I had a Wolverine hand as everything had just exploded,” added Steven who has had a total of 28 hours of surgery and many hours of physiotherapy over two years to rebuild his arm and create a fully functioning hand.

“It’s been hard and I went through some dark phases but I’ve got a very strong team around me and I’ve managed to get myself fit again and back working driving oil tankers.”

Barbara, a retired IT lecturer and trainer, said: “Yorkshire Air Ambulance is not a service you ever thing you will need but thank God it is there. If the paramedics had not got there as quickly as they did, and took the actions they did, it would have been a very different story.

“When your son has been that near to death and the air ambulance service that saved him relies solely on donations then I felt I had to raise the £4,000 cost of the call-out.

“I love knitting and sell mainly baby clothes and soft toys – many under £5 – but it’s just my way of showing my appreciation and is the least I can do.”

Barbara has sold hundreds knitted items mainly through craft fairs and customers ordering items from the wool section of the local Post Office in Anlaby, where she works part-time.

The 65-year-old is hoping to sell many more, and get donations for the YAA, during the two-day British Wool Show in York next month where she has been given a stall.

Barbara and Steven visited Yorkshire Air Ambulance’s air support unit at Nostell to hand over a cheque for £1,000 and meet their paramedic hero Matt.

Steven added: “He did not know I had survived and it was just really good to be able to look him the eye and say thank-you.”

Matt Syrat, Aircrew Paramedic added “It was a pleasure to meet Steven and Barbara again after such a significant accident.  I remember Steven’s incident vividly and glad myself and my colleagues on the helicopter that day were able to do all we could to help save Steven’s arm.

“It’s great to see how well he is doing now.  And we are so grateful to Barbara for her amazing fundraising efforts – all that knitting must keep her very busy!”

Yorkshire Air Ambulance serves 5million people across Yorkshire and carries out over 1,300 missions every year. The charity needs to raise £12,000 every day to keep its two, state-of-the-art helicopters flying.

Pilot Ian Mousette has retired from Yorkshire Air Ambulance after a 39-year flying career which began and ended at RAF Topcliffe, near Thirsk.

Hull-born Ian always wanted to be in the army and joined the Junior Leaders Regiment at 16 with his sights firmly set on becoming a ground soldier.

But all that changed when he watched a recruitment film for the Army Air Corps. “I had never even considered flying before,” said Ian. “But I saw this film on how you could become a pilot in three years and that was it, I was hooked.”

There then followed a 24-year military career that saw Ian serve throughout the world – from the Falklands to Fiji, from Australia to Armagh.

He added: “At the age of 42 I had pretty much achieved everything I wanted to do in flying terms with the military, so I decided to complete my commercial licences and start a new chapter in my working life.”

Ian left the army in 1999 and, after working initially as a corporate pilot “flying rich and famous people about” spent eight years as a pilot for Police Aviation Services working with several police forces including Essex and South Yorkshire.

The 60-year-old became a Helicopter Emergency Medical Services pilot initially for the Lincolnshire and Notts Air Ambulance, before transferring to Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) in 2012.

“I have been very, very fortunate that I’ve ended my flying career at Yorkshire Air Ambulance,” said the father-of-two. “It’s one of the most satisfying jobs in the world, although someone has got to be having a very bad day for me to get to do the thing I enjoy most.

“I have worked with some amazing people at the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and it’s been really rewarding to be part of an organisation that is always looking to provide the very best service for the people we serve.

“During my time I’ve been fortunate to have had the chance to fly the very latest aircraft – with the arrival of two, brand new Airbus H145s – which has been a really good challenge and enhanced the service’s night flying capabilities too.”

Over the last six years Ian has flown hundreds of times from the YAA’s northern air support unit at RAF Topcliffe, landing everywhere from isolated moorland to city streets, picking up patients of all ages with a wide range of serious injuries and medical problems.

“It never ceased to amaze me how much support the Air Ambulance gets from the people of Yorkshire,” added Ian, who is an aviation safety manager and NEBOSH qualified health and safety consultant.

“People regularly came up to me and offered to make donations. It was a real pleasure to go to work flying over the amazing landscapes of my home county every day and being part of a great team helping to save lives.

“I cherish the memory of a lady who, struggling to walk, came up to myself and a paramedic after we had landed at a job to thank us for previously airlifting her mother to hospital in bad weather.”

Captain Andy Lister, Director of Aviation at the YAA added “On behalf of everyone here, I’d like to wish Ian and his family all the very best for the future. Ian has been a much-valued member of our team for the last six years, and it was a privilege to fly and work with him.”