Christmas Appeal

Self-confessed adventurer Michelle Bray, from Ashby in Leicestershire, suffered life-threatening injuries after an unexplained, freak paragliding accident on Friday 13^th September 2019. Superstition couldn’t deter Michelle from the thrill of an elementary paragliding pilot training course. Conditions that day were good but witnesses saw the weather change and Michelle collide with the ground at speed.

She sustained 25 fractures including her ribs, hip, pelvis, femur and ankle. Her back was broken in three places, her arm was so badly damaged it needed to be completely rebuilt and she suffered two bleeds to her brain. Michelle was also left with no memory of the event. The Air Ambulance was deployed to give Michelle the greatest chance of survival and arrived on the scene in just 12 minutes. The crew found her in a critical condition, drifting in and out of consciousness.

Recognising that her life was in danger, the crew treated Michelle by giving her advanced pain relief and saline solution. They packaged her and then transported her to the waiting helicopter, airlifting her to the major trauma centre at Sheffield’s Northern General Hospital.

“My first question was ‘what accident?’ I have no recollection of it at all,” Michelle says. “I was in hospital in Sheffield for three weeks and then I was transferred to Leicester Royal Infirmary. My next of kin were told I’d never get back the full use of my arm.”

Now, three years on from the accident, she has defied medical expectations. Not only can Michelle walk, run and hike but she recently took on the incredible challenge of climbing in the Alps to raise money for the Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance.