A SON whose hero dad almost lost his life in an horrific motorbike crash is running the Yorkshire marathon to raise money for the Great North Air Ambulance.

Derek Stainthorpe, 50, said goodbye to his family at his hospital bedside believing he might not make it through the night.

He was riding his Triumph Tiger motorbike along the B1222 between Cawood and Kelfied when his front wheel skidded and he left the road and hit a signpost.

The crash left Mr Stainthorpe, from Kelfield, with a punctured lung, a broken arm, broken shoulder, six broken ribs and a dislocated knee and an emergency paramedic put an air hole into his lung at the roadside so he could breathe.

The GNAAS took him to Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield where he underwent treatment for a month.

Now Mr Stainthorpe’s son, Connor, and Connor’s friends Sam Harrison and Liam Broadhead, all 20, are in training for this year’s Yorkshire Marathon.

Connor said: “Great North Air Ambulance Service came as soon as possible and along with the paramedics helped save my dad’s life. They saved my hero and I cannot thank them enough. I am doing this run for the dedicated staff at GNAAS to say thank you.”

The crash happened in March 2010 when Mr Stainthorpe was 46 and Connor was 17 and studying for his A-levels.

Mr Stainthorpe, who is married to Joanne, 49, said: “After the crash I was awake throughout the whole thing until they put me in the helicopter and at one point I blacked out and I thought I had died.

“The first night in intensive care, I said goodbye to my family at the bedside – it’s really not nice to look back on.”

Since the accident, Mr Stainthorpe, a printer who works in Leeds, said it has been a long struggle with various operations leaving him with five metal ribs and a metal plate in his arm.

He said: “I don’t think I’ll ever fully recover. I get pain daily. I have got a lot of scar tissue on my back and I get a lot of pain from that.

“I will never ride a motorbike again. Before the crash I used to ride a lot for pleasure and go on tours, but not now.”

The lads are hoping to raise £3,000 and have already banked £500 and are on a 24-week training plan ahead of the marathon in York in October.

To donate go to www.justgiving.com/connor-stainthorpe or text the code GNAA93, your name and amount to 70070.