TEENAGER Charlotte Leighton would never have lived to enjoy her school prom, were it not for paramedics on board a Yorkshire Air Ambulance helicopter.
They flew her to hospital after a road accident just over five years ago, and doctors there were able to save her life and successfully treat her for severe facial injuries.
So what better way for Charlotte to arrive at the prom at Easingwold School than in a helicopter, piloted by one of the paramedics who treated her following the accident?
Charlotte’s father Colin said she and a group of friends were originally planning to turn up in a horse and carriage, but the idea fell through at the last minute.
He said he then contacted Lee Davison who, as well as continuing to work as an air ambulance paramedic, had trained to become a helicopter pilot and flew commercial flights with Multiflight in his spare time.
Lee agreed to fly Charlotte and her friends, Georgie Harrison, Hannah Knowlson and Abi Low, to the school on Tuesday evening from her home near Tollerton, the village where Charlotte was knocked down by a car while waiting for the school bus in March 2006.
But Colin said even the flight nearly had to be called off because of safety concerns about landing in the school grounds.
It only went ahead after Keith Hollinrake and Fiona Antrobus, of Hunters estate agents, agreed to provide a landing site in a nearby field, where Hunters were acting as land agents for a proposed development.
He said Charlotte was now planning to go to York College, with her long-term ambition being to join a uniformed public service. He said she was an experienced horse rider and wanted to go into the mounted police.
A flying entrance
FIVE years ago Charlotte Leighton had only one thought: to get better after being airlifted by the Yorkshire Air Ambulance following a horrendous road accident near her school. Now she has fully recovered and this week the only thing on her mind was her prom.
Since her accident, Charlotte has tirelessly campaigned to raise funds for the Air Ambulance as a thank-you to crews for saving her life. And the paramedic who was first on the scene paid a wonderful return compliment by flying her in his own helicopter to her school’s end-of-year party.
Charlotte is a most courageous girl and are we delighted to see her not only fit and well, but able to enjoy the prom with her friends.
The smiles on our page-three picture show just how delighted she was and we say well done, Charlotte, for all you have done for the Air Ambulance.
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