WILL YOU HELP US TO KEEP A CHILD ALIVE?
Your donations helped Isabella come home to her family. We urgently need your help to provide this lifesaving support and give other children their first flight.
MAKE A DONATION TODAY!
Can pay for a Children’s Air Ambulance helicopter to fly one mile.
If 100 supporters could give just £36 a month, we could cover the cost of a lifesaving children’s helicopter transfer.
Can pay to carry 2,400L of oxygen to help critically ill children breathe.
ISABELLA'S STORY
Hannah was having a normal and healthy pregnancy when she was involved in a road traffic collision in her local town in Cornwall. From that moment, she knew something wasn’t quite right. Hannah arrived at the local hospital and within an hour she was prepped for surgery and Isabella was delivered by an emergency caesarean section (c-section), weighing just 2.2lbs.
Following the emergency c-section, baby Isabella and mum Hannah were blue lighted to Bristol’s Southmead Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) so Isabella could receive the specialist medical care she needed. After two worrying weeks in Bristol, Isabella was well enough to travel closer to home but due to her complex medical needs, her transfer was arranged with the Children’s Air Ambulance. In partnership with the specialist clinical team from Southwest Neonatal Advice and Retrieval (SoNAR) service, we were able to prepare Isabella and make her comfortable in our bespoke incubator ready for the 172-mile journey back home.
It took just 55 minutes for Isabella and mum Hannah to fly back to Treliske, a journey that would have taken almost three hours by land ambulance without considering traffic. Not only did this save precious time, but it also minimised the risk and complications of moving Isabella. She may never remember her journey, but her first flight with the Children’s Air Ambulance will always be part of her story.
Most children remember their first flight. My daughter Isabella won’t. Born prematurely at 28 weeks old and weighing 2.2lbs, her transfer was a journey I’ll never forget. Because I was terrified. But thanks to kind donations, we both had the safest journey we could hope for in the best of hands - the Children’s Air Ambulance.
Your donations helped transfer 78 premature babies, like Isabella, in 2023. Each rescue mission costs over £3,600, but your donation today, whatever the amount, will ensure we help more critically ill babies like Isabella.
If 100 supporters could give just £36 a month, we could cover the cost of a lifesaving children’s helicopter transfer.
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Thanks to your generous support, new and bespoke Neonatal Transport Systems were designed with input from leading neonatal transfer clinicians to ensure outstanding care is possible in the air. As well as the incubator, the system includes a Patient Monitor, Ventilator, Suction Unit, four Infusion Devices, Oxygen and specialist Nitric Oxide Therapy.
The Children’s Air Ambulance is continually looking at ways to increase support to the NHS and the clinical teams we work alongside – being there for patients like Isabella and her family is the reason we operate. I am so glad we could get her home using our new incubator and it is really good to know she’s doing well since her transfer.
If you’d like to donate on our regular giving
Regular gifts enable us to plan, giving us sustainable long-term income and are easily set up on our donate form. Payments come out once a month via Direct Debit and can be as little or as much as you choose, as any gift, no matter the size, help to keep our helicopters flying.
Get involved in our fundraising events
Organise your own incredible challenge event, come to one of our fundraising dinners, or join an event and challenge yourself to help raise awareness and vital funds for our services