ROADSIDE blood transfusions have helped to save 18 lives in the North-East and Cumbria since being introduced just over a year ago, according to those behind the service.
Air medics from the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) have performed 60 blood transfusions since the Blood on Board project launched last year, with a third of those deemed to have been of critical importance to survival.
Dawn Horniman was left critically injured after a collision in Spennymoor town centre.
Mrs Horniman was in the front passenger seat of a stationary Citreon C3 car in Spennymoor, County Durham, while waiting for her husband at the cash point, when a speeding Vauxhall Corsa lost control and crashed into their car.
Her husband, Mark Horniman, said: “I heard a bang and I knew instinctively that our car had been hit. The car slammed into ours and knocked it back around 15ft. I ran to Dawn and after then it’s all a bit of a blur really. Lots of people came out to help.”
The 60-year-old, from Spennymoor, suffered a bleed on the brain, two collapsed lungs, five broken ribs and two broken wrists when the incident happened on June 9 last year.
The Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) flew to the scene and Mrs Horniman was anaesthetised by the aircrew before they performed advanced surgical procedures and administered one unit of blood while en route to hospital.
Mrs Horniman was airlifted to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough within nine minutes where she arrived in a critical condition.
She spent one week in intensive care and a further two weeks in hospital. Now, she continues to recover.
Mr Horniman said: “They saved her life. I don’t even want to think about what the other outcome may have been.
“Without GNAAS and their expertise, Dawn may not have survived and made it to hospital.
“Blood on Board is a critical life-saving procedure and it is a credit to the North-East.
“I want to thank the emergency services and members of the public for their swift response after the crash that day.”