A TEENAGER who suffered life-threatening injuries after a fall from her horse in Otterburn will be taking on a fundraising challenge in support of the air ambulance service who helped her.
Lucy Henderson, 18, from Hexham, has signed up to Miles4Missions, which is a virtual daily challenge where participants need to cover a distance in miles which reflects the number of missions responded to by the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) the previous day.
The challenge starts in October and Lucy has signed up to aid her recovery as well as raise funds for the service that came to her rescue.
On 20 June, Lucy was riding her horse Peapod when they had a rotational fall during a jump and unfortunately landed on top of her.
Lucy was in a lot of pain and sustained several serious injuries, which led to GNAAS and the North East Ambulance Service being called out to help her.
Recalling what happened, Lucy said: “I was knocked out initially, but afterwards I can remember the majority of it. I remember hearing the helicopter and I thought, thank God for that, the drugs are on the way.”
Lucy was suffering internal bleeding, and had fractured her back, scapula, nose and six ribs, and took a chunk out of her lip.
Her parents Tracy Irving Henderson and Matt Henderson were alerted to what had happened and after arriving at the field, they witnessed the emergency services working together to assess and treat Lucy’s injuries.
Mrs Irving Henderson said: “It was horrible. When we got there the team from the ambulance and the helicopter were working on her, and her stats were so bad. They tried to keep us calm, and they gave her ketamine to ease her pain before deciding to take her to hospital by road.”
Lucy travelled in a land ambulance to the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) in Newcastle, accompanied by her parents.
During the journey Lucy was incredibly unwell, and the ambulance had to pull over so she could throw up.
Once they arrived at the RVI, Lucy was taken into resus, where she vomited approximately 300ml of blood all over the floor.
Lucy said: “I was in resus for ages. I had lost a kidney, lots of internal bleeding that they were worried about, my bowel and pancreas were badly damaged, and I had nearly 90 percent bruising to my lungs.”
Lucy then spent a week on the high dependency unit before returning home to continue her recovery.
This was the second time Lucy had been in the RVI following a fall from her horse and also required the help of GNAAS’ critical care team.
In 2017, when Lucy was only ten years old, she was thrown off her pony Flash and banged the side of her head.
With Lucy showing signs of a potentially serious head injury, GNAAS was dispatched to the scene, and after treatment by the doctor and paramedic team, she was airlifted to the RVI.
Thankfully she was relatively unscathed and was able to return to riding eight weeks later.
Mrs Irving Henderson said: “GNAAS is vital to rural places like ours. Honestly, it’s something no one could do without. The critical care team’s speed in reaching incidents is amazing, and their ability to access areas where ambulances can’t is so helpful.”
Just two weeks after Lucy left hospital, she was able to travel to Belgium by road to support her mentor who was eventing in the 3* European cup, where she achieved an individual top 10 finish and team gold for Great Britain.
Lucy also achieved the milestone of getting back in the saddle in August and has now signed up to GNAAS’ Miles4Missions.
During the month-long challenge, each morning, participants will receive the number of miles to complete, reflecting the number of missions GNAAS’ critical care team undertook the day before.
The catch is they won’t know how far they’ll be going until their mission arrives, and just like GNAAS’ critical care team, they’ll need to be ready for anything.
They can cover the distance by walking, running, cycling, rowing, or any other way that gets them moving.
Those who sign up will receive a digital fundraising pack, and once they secure their first £10 on JustGiving, they’ll be sent a GNAAS water bottle to ensure they stay hydrated throughout the miles.
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