Woman praises air ambulance after fall from horse

2:06pm Tuesday 8th July 2008

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DETERMINED Dani French says that she owes her life to the Wiltshire Air Ambulance after a near fatal fall from her beloved horse Mojito in May.

Mrs French, 52, of Redhill Close, Derry Hill, was riding her five-year-old horse at a farm in Ratford when something spooked it and it threw her against a wall.

She instantly knew that something was seriously wrong and had a searing pain in her neck.

Horrified husband Richard had witnessed the whole incident and immediately called for an ambulance.

Within five minutes paramedics were at the scene and then the air ambulance was called in to take Mrs French to the Great Western Hospital in Swindon.

She said: "This time I knew I was destined to be really hurt - my husband said that I screamed like a cat fight in progress.

"When I hit the wall I knew something bad had happened, I could hardly breathe and was in so much pain.

"The paramedics were fantastic and if it was not for their cautious care I would more than likely be a wheelchair bound paraplegic or even dead.

"I was at the hospital within four minutes and it would have taken more than half an hour by ambulance.

"People must back the campaign to keep the Wiltshire Air Ambulance in Wiltshire - it is absolutely critical.

"I owe them my life, which is something that I can never repay."

Emergency scans at the hospital revealed that Mrs French had fractured four vertebrae and severely fractured her neck with a bone fragment very close to the spinal cord.

She also had three broken ribs, three breaks in the scapula and a punctured lung.

She was kept in Intensive Care for six days and in hospital for more than month and is now recuperating at home.

The couple, who have an 18-year-old son Tom, have praised the efforts of every member of the medical team who helped Mrs French.

Mr French said: "The Air Ambulance is such a wonderful thing to have in the county and you cant value them highly enough.

"Everyone who helped save my wife's life deserves only the highest praise.

"I urge every single person in the county to back the campaign to keep the air ambulance teams here.

"It would be a travesty if they were relocated because it means they would take longer to respond and lives would be put at risk."

Click here to download a petition to help save the Air ambulance.