Carrie’s Story

A mum of two who suffers from a severe form of asthma has thanked the paramedics who saved her life twice in the last month.

Carrie Grandison, 30, first had an asthma attack at her home near St Austell on Wednesday 8 April and needed advanced medical care.

Cornwall Air Ambulance was tasked and pilot Liv Milles landed in a field next to the family home- a journey that took just six minutes from the Newquay base.

Due to the restrictions with Covid-19, as a respiratory patient Carrie could not be transferred to hospital in the helicopter. Instead, the charity’s critical care paramedics Pete Storer and Martin Bunt, worked with colleagues from SWASFT to accompany her to hospital by road.

Carrie said: “Although I didn’t go in the helicopter, what the air ambulance paramedics can provide is a higher level of care and medicines. Having Pete and Martin with me meant that my treatment could get started on route to hospital. Their quick and pre-emptive treatment made all the difference; in my situation minutes can mean the difference between life and death. I’m certain the treatment they started and their calm expertise saved my life.”

Carrie was taken to Royal Cornwall Hospital and transferred to the Intensive Care Unit for further treatment. On her discharge from hospital, Carrie had to spend seven days in isolation from her husband Shane and two children Isla,6, and Ted, 4.

Just a couple of weeks later, critical care paramedics from Cornwall Air Ambulance came to Carrie’s aid again, when she suffered another life-threatening attack on Saturday 2 May.

Carrie said: “I cannot thank the critical care team enough for what they’ve done for me. I couldn’t believe it when I found out Cornwall Air Ambulance relies solely on charitable donations. It is such a vital service, particularly here in Cornwall. Our family are planning to raise money for the charity to make sure they can keep saving lives.”