A West Cumbrian woman has completed her first marathon in Manchester after the Great North Air Ambulance saved her family’s lives.
Lisa McCrickard, 41, of Egremont, took part in the Manchester Marathon on Sunday and has raised more than £1,700 for the Great North Air Ambulance Service.
The charity came to the aid of Lisa’s husband, Ian, 51, and their sons Jack, 14, and Harry, 11, after they were involved in a collision on the A5086 near Deanscales in October 2018.
Mr McCrickard said: “Another car came round the corner on the wrong side of the road and head on into us. It was that fast, I couldn’t react.”
The father-of-four was trapped in the car for an hour and 45 minutes, and his son Jack also needed to be released from the wreckage.
Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service cut the father and son out of the car, and the critical care teams from air ambulance flew to the scene, from their bases in Cumbria and Teesside.
Mrs McCrickard had received a phone call informing her what had happened, and was driven to the scene where she saw her youngest son Harry being airlifted to hospital by the North West Air Ambulance, who had been requested to assist GNAAS.
GNAAS doctor John Ferris said: “On scene we were able to provide advanced pain relief to Ian and his children, who had a number of serious fractures and some internal bleeding.
“By giving them some strong medication, this allowed us to remove them from the car they were in and prepare them for the flight before we took everybody to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle.”
Harry had a broken shoulder, a fractured pelvis and a bleed to his spleen, while his brother Jack had two broken wrists, a bruised lung, snapped his femur, and suffered damage to his teeth.
Mr McCrickard had broken both of his legs, his left knee, a big toe, a finger on his left hand, and sustained lacerations to his hand and arm.
The brothers left hospital after three weeks and returned home to recover, while their dad was discharged a week after them.
Since the incident, the McCrickard family have reunited with one of GNAAS’ critical care teams who helped them and have raised thousands of pounds for the charity.
Last year, Mrs McCrickard, who had previously run a few half marathons, decided she was going take part in the Manchester Marathon to raise even more money for the air ambulance service.
Despite nerves on the day, she overcame a panic attack at mile three and after using her inhaler to help her breathe she managed to get round the rest of the way and enjoy it.
She said: “It was amazing crossing the line. I actually didn’t think I’d be able to run to the finish, but I saw my family and I just wanted to get to them.
“They surprised me at mile 14 with a big banner and then at 20 and then the line.”
Harry joined his mother at the end of the marathon, and they held hands as they crossed the finish line together.
After celebrating with her family, they had a long drive back to Egremont where Mrs McCrickard was able to have a chilled out evening with a relaxing bath.
She has so far raised £1,760 and people can still sponsor her via her JustGiving page at https://www.justgiving.com/page/lisa-mccrickard-1709392592304
She said: “It’s so important to keep supporting the air ambulance because still to this day I can’t believe they are charity funded. You never know when you might need them.”
