“Life changing incidents don’t necessarily change life for the worse.”
Ruth Marlee, 70, from Hexham, has been reunited with the paramedic who treated her six years after a serious fall from her horse.
Ruth was horse riding in Hexhamshire near Hamburn Hall, when her horse Gini was spooked, causing her to fall and seriously injure herself.
She said: “Something spooked Gini, and I ended up slipping off the back and my leg snapped at the femur. The shock didn’t allow me to feel the huge pain at the time.”
Ruth phoned her friend to collect her horse as well as ringing the emergency services, where she was told the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) was being sent to her location.
She said: “The local farmer who was nearby gave permission for the air ambulance to land in the field and a paramedic arrived as they were landing. It was a huge relief when they turned up.
“The team at GNAAS put me at ease straight away. They tried to cannulate me but I have thin veins so they couldn’t get a line in. Thankfully they were able to give me pain relief another way.”
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Ruth was airlifted to the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle and during the flight she managed to take photos of the journey.
She said: “Because I was suitably medicated, the experience was thrilling and I even took many photos of the Roman Wall as we passed.”
The incident happened in December 2016 and Ruth was due to visit her son in Australia before Christmas, but instead she spent a fortnight in hospital and underwent reconstruction surgery for her pelvic bone.
It took her a year to recover and unfortunately, she never returned to horse riding, but she found a new passion and swapped four legs for two wheels.
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She said: “I’m now riding an electric mountain bike and encourage the cycling club to fundraise at every opportunity. Hopefully we won’t need GNAAS but we are happy to help them help others.”
Ruth recently went on a mountain bike trip in Switzerland which she described as a “holiday of a lifetime” and said: “This is absolute proof that life changing incidents don’t necessarily change life for the worse.”
She also reunited with GNAAS paramedic Terry Sharpe who treated her nearly six years ago.
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Mr Sharpe said: “It was great to meet Ruth again, under much better circumstances, and find out how she’s doing. We really appreciate her fundraising efforts as it’s supporters like her which enable us to continue helping patients across the region.”
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