Great North Air Ambulance Service

A Brighton man is taking part in the Copenhagen Marathon to support the air ambulance charity that helped save his dad’s life after a heart attack in Windermere.

Will Hutchinson, 30, will be tackling his first marathon abroad on Sunday 5 May, after he previously completed the Brighton Marathon in 2021.

He is raising money for the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS), after the charity’s Cumbria team flew to the aid of his father Jim Hutchinson.

The 62-year-old, from Staveley, Kendal, was in his partner Amanda’s boat on Lake Windermere when he suddenly started feeling unwell with chest pains, which rapidly became worse.

The emergency services were called out and the lake wardens helped move the boat to a better access point for the ambulance.

The critical care team from GNAAS was activated to the scene and landed on the Glebe in Bowness, where they met the team from the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS), who had identified that Mr Hutchinson was suffering from a heart attack.

Dr Theo Weston MBE and paramedic Terry Sharpe from GNAAS worked alongside NWAS to treat Mr Hutchinson and he was airlifted to the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle.

Mr Sharpe said: “The speed of our helicopter makes a big difference when a patient needs immediate medical intervention, and the flight time from Windermere to Carlisle, where we took Jim, was around 15 minutes.”

Mr Hutchinson had a stent fitted and spent five days in the cardiac unit before returning home.

Since the incident, which happened in November 2022, Mr Hutchinson has visited GNAAS’ base in Langwathby and reunited with the doctor and paramedic team who helped to save his life.

He said: “It's so nice to be able to say thank you. They were so reassuring and also reassuring to my friends and family who were around at the time before we took off, because it's quite a wrench when you see that helicopter disappear and you don't know what's happening.”

Mr Hutchinson now volunteers for GNAAS, and his son Will is raising money for the charity by taking part in the Copenhagen Marathon alongside his friends.

He said: “I think my dad's story speaks for itself really. I will never forget the phone call that I received from my dad's partner, telling me he’d had a heart attack and was being airlifted to Carlisle. Everything was hanging in the balance at that point and time was of the essence - the availability of GNAAS saved his life, I have no doubt.

“The journey time was a fraction of what it would have been by road and there is every chance he wouldn't have survived had it taken longer than it did.

“GNAAS saves lives every day, and in that more rural part of the UK, the fastest way to a casualty is by air. The fact that GNAAS is funded just by charitable donations is mind-boggling to me, so I will do what I can to keep those helicopters in the air.”

Will has been consistently running four times a week in preparation for the marathon and his fundraising target is £1,000.

So far Will has raised more than £300 and you can sponsor him via his JustGiving page: https://www.justgiving.com/page/will-hutchinson-cphgnaas

GNAAS needs to raise £8.5m a year to remain operational. To find out more about how you can support the charity visit: gna.as/fund247

About GNAAS

• The Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) is a charitably funded air ambulance service which provides life-saving care throughout the North East, North Yorkshire, Cumbria and Isle of Man.
• They operate two helicopters 365 days a year and also operate a night-time service in the North East and Cumbria on rapid response vehicles.
  
  
• The aircraft cover an area of more than 8,000 square miles and on board are specialist doctors and paramedics who effectively bring the hospital to the patient.
  
  
• The level of skill and expertise of the on-board team mean they respond to the most critically ill and injured people, giving them the best chance of survival.
  
  
• GNAAS is a progressive organisation which has pioneered pre-hospital care in the region.
  
• The latest techniques, equipment and drugs are constantly being evaluated to ensure the charity can provide the best care possible for their patients.
  
  
• 2022 marked the service providing 20 years of life-saving care. Throughout this time, they have responded to more than 23,500 incidents across the region, with road traffic collisions being the most frequent type of incident responded to by the team.
  
  
• They do not receive Government funding and must therefore raise £8.5m a year through public donations to remain operational.

For more information visit: https://www.greatnorthairambulance.co.uk/ or follow @gnairambulance on Facebook, X, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok