When Shaun’s heart stopped beating in October 1994, he became the first child airlifted to hospital by the Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance. Thirty years later, he gives thanks for their life-saving work.

Shaun was six years old when his heart stopped beating not once but three times. The Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance team ensured he received the specialist care he so desperately needed.

It was July 1994 and Shaun was with his family shopping in Skegness when he suddenly slipped and banged his head causing a seizure.  He was rushed to Boston’s Pilgrim Hospital where doctors fought to stabilise him each time his heart stopped beating.  Due to the seriousness of his injury’s the medical team decided he needed to be transferred immediately to Nottingham’s Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC).

The two-hour journey by road ambulance from Boston was deemed too risky for the young boy and so Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance were called. In less than 30 minutes, they had safely airlifted Shaun to QMC where he was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit. He remained in hospital for three weeks, the first week in an induced coma.

Shaun will be forever grateful to the LNAA crew. He said: “If they hadn’t flown me from Pilgrim Hospital to Queen’s Medical Centre I probably would have died.”