Ocean Cove Holiday Lodges and wife of patient raise £1,766 in his memory

A grandmother has helped to raise £1,766 for Cornwall Air Ambulance in memory of her husband, after he was attended by the crew.

The team at Ocean Cove Holiday Lodges, near Tintagel, held a summer barbecue fundraising event in memory of Jan Woolley’s husband John, who sadly passed away back in May.

John, a keen rugby player, had been out on the decking of their lodge doing some painting when he collapsed suddenly, suffering a cardiac arrest. Cornwall Air Ambulance was tasked to the scene, with critical care paramedics Martin Bunt and Jeremy Griffiths on board your AW169 helicopter.

Jan was away when she took the phone call from manageress Emma, to tell her what had happened. She told her to hold John’s hand tightly and tell him that Jan loved him. Despite the crew’s best efforts, sadly John could not be saved.

A collection was made for Cornwall Air Ambulance at John’s funeral service, and Jan donated this to the fundraising event total of £1,766.

Following John’s incident and the barbecue fundraiser in his memory, Jan and Emma have been to visit the airbase at Newquay for a cheque presentation and to meet some of the crew.

Jan said: “To meet any of the crew, but especially someone who attended John and worked hard to try and help him, it was a privilege and an honour, he explained everything very well to us, it was quite emotional to meet Martin because he was there with John trying to help. I‘m so thankful that he was there looking after John.

“I cannot describe highly enough how special and precious these people are who go up in the helicopter and do these missions, they don’t know what they’re going to attend, they are so professional and so special that we all need to do our absolute best to keep this aircraft and Cornwall Air Ambulance going. You never, ever know when you’ll need them, but when you need them they’re there. I’ll never, ever forgot what they did for John.”

Ocean Cove and Jan’s family are now planning to hold the summer fundraiser annually, to help raise money for Cornwall Air Ambulance and to remember their beloved John.