Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA) was called in to airlift newlywed Lisa to mainland hospital care from the Isle of Mull just two hours after her wedding.
Lisa, from Lincolnshire, required air ambulance assistance after a short walk the day before her wedding turned to disaster when she slid on mud and heard her leg snap.
“As I turned the corner, my left foot just went,” she recalls. “I slid, got wedged in the mud, and heard the bone snap on my shin. It was the weirdest feeling and noise.
“My leg went floppy, and I was soon in a lot of pain. My husband Ian found me in a crumbled heap on the ground.”
The mother-of-two had planned her dream wedding at a castle on the Isle of Mull. Her accident not only prevented her from attending the ceremony but resulted in SCAA being called to airlift Lisa to mainland hospital care at the Royal Alexandria Hospital in Paisley.
After breaking her leg, the 39-year-old was taken to the Mull and Iona Community Hospital where her leg was x-rayed.
Lisa’s list of injuries was a severely broken tibia, fibia, and a spiral fracture of the ankle.
Despite her painful injuries, getting married was still a priority for her.
“The thought of waiting for another year was unbearable,” she explains.
Early the next morning, family members and hospital staff gathered around the bride-to-be’s hospital bed for an entirely unique wedding.
Two hours later, SCAA crew arrived to transfer Lisa to hospital.
“Because of the nature of my break, and the pain I was in, I was very grateful to be airlifted in just half an hour to hospital as opposed to a four-hour-long journey via road and ferry,” she states.
“I was losing sensation in my foot, but the SCAA crew quickly made me feel comfortable…they were absolutely amazing.
“The crew communicated with me throughout the short flight to hospital, they made the journey pain free and so comfortable. They were all very caring.”
Lisa admits to feeling a whirlwind of emotion having just got married to then leaving her newly wedded husband and children on Mull to fly in an air ambulance.
She says: “It was so surreal. My incident shows that an accident can happen to anyone at any time. You just never know if you will need an air ambulance.
Once at mainland hospital care, Lisa received the surgery needed to help her recover from her injury. Now, she and her family are fundraising for SCAA through various activities such as a bake sale and raffle.
Lisa and her family plan to return to Mull to renew their vows for the couple’s one-year anniversary. During this trip to Scotland, they will also visit the SCAA Perth base and the crew who airlifted Lisa and helped her get the care she desperately needed in the quickest time possible.
