Pauline's Story

That gentle reassurance from a Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA) paramedic was what gave Pauline the will to survive as she feared her life was slipping away at the roadside following a horrendous motorcycle accident.

The 41-year-old lost control of her motorbike on a corner near her home in Huntly and careered backwards into a drystone dyke before being catapulted along the tarmac. Her motorbike split in two and skidded to a halt beside her.

“I remember hitting the wall with a sickening crack,” said the mother of four from near Huntly. “I just lay there as people rushed to help. They told me help was on the way.”

Pauline had been heading to a friend’s house to watch a football match when a road she knew well suddenly became the scene of her worst nightmare and she was left crushed by the roadside.

“I realised I couldn’t feel anything – what was happening to me? I was terrified and when a road ambulance crew arrived and rolled me over the pain was excruciating,” she said.

“They cut my leathers away and did pin prick tests on me, but I couldn’t feel anything from my chest down. I was paralysed – both physically and with fear of how seriously injured I might be.”

Medics realised Pauline needed hospital treatment – fast – and called in air support which came in the shape of Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA) with a specialist team and SCAA paramedic on board.

“I heard the helicopter approach and land in a neighbouring field,” recalled Pauline. “I was cold and frightened and worried that the arrival of a helicopter meant things were really serious.”

Medics soon set about assessing Pauline and transferring her to a spinal board and on to a stretcher.

“They kept reassuring me, before I drifted off due to the drugs they administered. I don’t remember being in the helicopter or going into Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. I just felt SCAA was in charge and they would look after me.”

Within 15 minutes, SCAA had airlifted Pauline to the Major Trauma Centre at ARI where a scan revealed the tragic news that Pauline’s spine had been completely smashed with bone shards severing the spinal cord. She was transferred to the specialist spinal unit at Glasgow the following day.

Sadly, infection set in and Pauline faced emergency major surgery to combat a ruptured bowel and resulting sepsis. Following the removal of her large intestine, Pauline couldn’t lie on her front so spinal surgery was postponed for two weeks.

“My spine was damaged beyond repair so they could do nothing other than insert metalwork to prevent further damage and to keep the damaged spine in place,” said Pauline.

“I was told I would never walk again.”

The enormity of such devastating news took time to sink in and Pauline spent months coming to terms with her physical limitations.

“It didn’t sink in at first,” she said. “I was such an active workaholic and now I could do little or nothing for myself. It was devastating.”

Pauline spent six months in hospital while a new house was adapted to her needs and a much-needed family break in the sun set her up for her new lifestyle. And while Pauline faces the challenges of life in a wheelchair, she is in no doubt that a future with her family is something she would have lost if it hadn’t been for Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance.

“I would probably have died at the roadside without this amazing charity and its terrific crew,” she said. “They got me to hospital when time was running out.

“I’m now in a whole new chapter of my life. My bosses at ASDA in Elgin kindly kept a suitable job open for me and I’m so grateful to my colleagues, friends and family. But I owe SCAA the biggest debt – I owe them my life.

“I will be forever grateful to them.”