Alfold mother’s charity donation after life-threatening crash

Christine Covey, 22, presented the team from Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance with a cheque for £5,600 raised by a charity masquerade ball she hosted.

The mother-of-one suffered a potentially fatal fractured pelvis, broken hips, a collapsed lung and broken shoulder when the Land Rover she was a passenger in was involved in a collision with a lorry in November 2013.

Christine was thrown out of the Land Rover by the crash, which happened yards outside her home in Alfold.

She said: “The last thing I can remember before the accident was calling the electric gate to our drive, the driver shouting, looking up and then seeing a head light.

“Afterwards, I remember being in a lot of pain but I was quite adamant that I’d just broken my leg and was trying to get up because I was in the road and thought I was going to get run over.

“A lot of my broken bones were around my arteries so if I wasn’t sedated I probably wouldn’t have made it.”

Christine, part of a farming family, was delivering logs when the crash happened.

She was given emergency treatment at the scene by the air ambulance’s doctor, Simon Wood, and critical care paramedic David Wright.

She was taken to the Major Trauma Centre at St George’s Hospital in London where she spent almost a month in intensive care and was put on a life support machine. She also needed several operations on her pelvis.

The masquerade ball was held in September at The Three Compasses. Christine also hosted a raffle and auction with prizes including Top Gear tickets and even alpacas and piglets.

She said: “Ever since I was a kid I wanted a masquerade ball for my 21st birthday but I spent it in hospital so it kind of went out of the window.

“But when I came out I wanted to do something for the air ambulance to say thank you. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have made it to hospital.”

Christine is still undergoing physiotherapy and awaiting hip replacements.

Paramedic David Wright, now an operational clinical lead, said: “It is always rewarding for us when we are able to meet a patient we have treated.

“We see patients in very different circumstances by the roadside, so to hear from Christine about her recovery and to see her looking so well was wonderful.”