Lawrence’s Story

Former patient Lawrence Brimm (21) believes he owes his life to the local air ambulance that flew him to hospital after he sustained serious head injuries when his car crashed after he swerved to avoid hitting an animal in the road.

Lawrence lay undiscovered for a few hours before a lady walking her dog called the emergency services.

It took Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance just 10 minutes to transfer him from the scene of the accident – near Leicester racecourse – to University Hospital Coventry & Warwickshire where he was kept in a coma in the intensive care department for three weeks.

Having suffered serious brain injuries in the collision, Lawrence then started on the long road to recovery; spending nearly a year in the Central England Rehabilitation Unit at Leamington Spa followed by another 15 months at a rehabilitation care home.

Since November 2018 he has been living back at his home in Oadby with the help of a team of support workers during the week.

As part of his ongoing recovery, Lawrence spends an hour a week as a volunteer at his local air ambulance shop in Oadby. He is a popular member of the team whose role is to sort donated CDs and DVDs before they are sold.

“I want to give something back to the charity that saved my life. The doctors said that if I hadn’t got to the hospital as fast as I did I wouldn’t be walking and talking now, and might not be alive,” he says.

Lawrence’s mum June Morrison says that volunteering helps Lawrence with his self-confidence.

“Being part of a team is good for his morale and giving something back makes him feel better about himself,” she says.

Lucky-to-be-alive, Lawrence is determined to carry on with his strict physiotherapy routine with the aim of eventually being able to walk unaided.

“Before the accident I played a lot of sport and studied sport at college. I want to get back into good shape. My ambition now is to run my own café,” he says.