Lindsey’s Story
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In January 2012, Lindsey Phillips suffered life-threatening injuries in a traumatic road traffic collision in south east Cornwall.
20-year-old Lindsey had been in Plymouth for the evening and was heading home with a friend, catching the Torpoint Ferry in the early hours of the morning. They were driving through the Sheviock area when the car left the road, going down an embankment, flipping over, and landing on its passenger side between two trees in a garden.
Lindsey, who was the passenger in the car, was trapped in the vehicle and severely injured. The car was discovered five hours later thanks to a barking dog, whose owners then raised the alarm.
Cornwall Air Ambulance was tasked to the scene, with Critical Care Paramedic Mick McLachlan as part of the duty crew. Also in attendance was Lisa Ball – now a Critical Care Paramedic with the charity – who at the time was working as a land paramedic and responded by road. Lindsey had to be cut free from the vehicle, and having been trapped for several hours with life-threatening injuries, was in a critical condition. She was airlifted to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, the region’s major trauma centre, for urgent onward care.
Lindsey had suffered a brain injury to her frontal lobe, a blood clot on the brain, three broken ribs, a broken pelvis and a punctured lung. She spent three weeks in an induced coma and on life support, remaining at Derriford for a total of two months. Lindsey was later transferred to a rehabilitation unit where she underwent physio, she then continued to receive support for several years.
It has been a long process, and Lindsey still sometimes struggles with communication, but she has made a strong recovery. She now has a one-year-old son and is starting to learn to drive.
12 years later Lindsey has been to visit the Cornwall Air Ambulance base, in memory of her friend Hayley who sadly did not survive the collision, and to meet some of the crew who attended the incident.
She said: “I’m very thankful for Cornwall Air Ambulance. They got me to Derriford and thanks to them I got there quickly, they saved me. They are in my Will, and we support them, we put money in the charity jars.
“It was lovely to meet them [Mick and Lisa] again, I got a bit emotional, but it’s nice to meet them and know they were there.”
Lindsey is also a New Heli Hero, and has her name featured on your first AW169 helicopter.