Giving back to air ambulance

A woman who has been airlifted to hospital twice has taken on a charity abseil for the air ambulance.

Hayley Rylott (27) was aged just four when she was thrown through the windscreen of a car after the driver fell asleep at the wheel as they drove along the A52 near Donington in 1998.

When emergency services arrived on scene, they didn’t know that a child was involved in the crash as Hayley had landed in a field and the driver was unconscious.

As the driver came round, they began shouting for Hayley.

The Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance arrived on scene and flew Hayley to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham.

There were no visible marks on her body but she had suffered a serious brain injury. Hayley’s mum Helen said that she was told Hayley might never walk and talk again.

Hayley said: “I can’t do natural things like other people can and I can’t work because I get very tired easily.

“I didn’t even break anything in the accident, it was the brain injury and my left-hand side.

“If it hadn’t been for the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance I wouldn’t be here now.”

During her teenage years, Hayley completed an NVQ in horse care as part of her physiotherapy and she has two horses, Neo and Danny. But this then led to Hayley’s second airlift in 2015 when she was thrown from one of the horses. Her right arm was injured and because of the location, her age and her history, LNAA were called. Luckily, this time, it wasn’t as serious.

“I didn’t let it stop me riding”, said Hayley.

Hayley and her rehabilitation team raised around £2,000 following the abseil in Buxton at the weekend.

You can donate by searching for Hayley Rylott at Just Giving.