An 11-year-old boy who was involved in a collision with his parent’s car has been reunited with the aircrew paramedic who treated his injuries on scene.
Owen Jenkinson, from Rotherham, was on a family holiday in Northumberland on May 26 when they had just arrived at a campsite in Dunstan, near Craster.
Owen and his younger brother Alex Jenkinson, got out of the car to play on a field, but as his father Ian Jenkinson was parking up, Owen was hit by the family’s 4×4.
Mr Jenkinson said: “We’re not really sure how Owen ended up where he ended up, we’ve asked on numerous occasions and we can’t get an answer, and I certainly don’t know, but he ended up under the passenger side front wheel.
“My wife Claire screamed at me to reverse the car away, which I did. We jumped out, had a look at him, he looked in a pretty bad way.”
The family rang for an ambulance and both the North East Ambulance Service and the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) arrived on scene.
Owen had sustained six broken ribs, a broken collarbone, two collapsed lungs and bruises and abrasions to his body.
He was placed in an induced coma by the GNAAS paramedic and doctor team before being flown to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle where he stayed for six days.
Mrs Jenkinson said: “When he came around from his induced coma he said it was awesome that he’d been in a helicopter.”
Owen has nearly recovered from the collision however he said that his lung strength isn’t 100 per cent yet and his collarbone hurts sometimes when he coughs.
To thank GNAAS for their help the family recently visited their base at Durham Tees Valley Airport to meet air crew paramedic Gordon Ingram who treated Owen and to donate £2,000 to the charity.
Mr Jenkinson said: “We didn’t realise how separately funded the air ambulance service was, I did think they must be funded partially by the NHS which is not the fact. But they worked together the NHS and this air ambulance service flawlessly, seamlessly, the treatment was second to none. They were really class.”
When asked what he thought about GNAAS, Owen said: “GNAAS are cool. My favourite part of the visit was going in the helicopter and putting the helmet on.”
GNAAS is funded entirely by donations. Last year, it needed to raise £5.1m to survive. To find out how you can help please visit www.gnaas.com or call 01325-487263.
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