CORNWALL Air Ambulance is celebrating five years of carrying out lifesaving blood transfusions at the scene of an incident.

The charity based at Trevithick Downs has been carrying blood on board the aircraft since December 1, 2020, which gives the critical care team the option to start emergency transfusions before a patient even reaches the hospital. The crew has administered 80 transfusions to patients who have suffered traumatic injuries in the five years since the scheme launched.

The first patient to receive a transfusion, within just three days of the service launching, was 17-year-old Zack Hancock who was involved in a serious road traffic collision in St Tudy, which left him with life-threatening injuries.

Donna Jewell, Zack’s mother, said: “It was a horrific thing to go to, I collapsed in the middle of the road, it was heartbreaking. The police said to me that they didn’t think he was going to survive, so they let me sit beside him, and I sat beside him singing to him while they were working on him. Everyone was so amazing. Without the air ambulance, he wouldn’t be here.”

Mr Hancock was airlifted to Derriford Hospital and spent 11 days in a coma. He suffered a brain injury and significant internal injuries, along with broken bones in his face, arms and legs.

Five years later, Zack, now 22, has made a great recovery and has just become a dad for the first time.

He said: “I was lucky, if it wasn’t for the service, I wouldn’t be here now. I’m looking forward to spending this Christmas with my girlfriend and my newborn daughter, who has just turned seven months old.”

Critical care paramedics Paul Maskell who attended the incident said: “I will never forget Zack’s incident, as he was so critically injured at the roadside.

“Each year Zack now comes to visit us at the Royal Cornwall Show to say hello, and it’s wonderful to see how well he is doing. This intervention has really enhanced the level of our service and it’s amazing the difference it has made for so many of our patients over the last five years.”

Cornwall Air Ambulance would not be able to carry the fresh frozen plasma and packed red blood cells without the help of Cornwall Blood Bikes, whose volunteer riders every day, come rain or shine, deliver the blood products from the Royal Cornwall Hospital to the charity’s Newquay airbase.

Jayne Penlerick, chair of Cornwall Blood Bikes, said: “This project was in discussion and planning for a great length of time prior to its implementation, and it is truly wonderful to see such a successful partnership that has been formed. Our riders ensure that the blood gets to the airbase, 365 days a year in all winds and weathers. All the volunteers at Cornwall Blood Bikes remain immensely proud to be supplying Blood on Board to Cornwall Air Ambulance.

“The communities of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly are extremely blessed to have the vital care that the critical care team and everyone at Cornwall Air Ambulance strive to provide with this incredible service which is assisting with better patient outcomes for the people of Cornwall and Isles of Scilly.”