Isaac's story
In late July 2024, nine-year-old Isaac from North Norfolk had recently broken up from school for the summer holidays. One morning, he suffered a medical emergency while out on his cycle and required urgent treatment and care from East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA). Isaac’s mum, Lisa, explains the events of that day and how grateful her family is for the advanced care the Anglia One (Norwich) crew provided in the moments Isaac needed it most.
“I’d been at work, just a few minutes away from our home, for about an hour and a half when my phone alerts on my watch were ringing and ringing. It was my neighbour frantically trying to get hold of me,” Lisa explains. “I was working on a check-out and couldn’t answer, but the next call was from my husband, so I signed out of the till and quickly called him back. He told me that an ambulance had been called for our youngest son, Isaac.”
The 999 call was made at 10:05am. Lisa raced home. The journey was only five minutes, but it was a complete blur. Her eldest son Liam, then aged 14, was waiting in the driveway when she arrived and took her to the nearby green where Isaac was laying, injured.
“We still don’t know exactly what happened, but Isaac was out cycling near our home and was possibly startled by nearby grass cutting. He went over the handlebars of his bike and the lever of the brake went through his abdomen,” Lisa explains.
Isaac sustained a significant and deep soft tissue injury and was screaming in pain. Lisa and Liam arrived to find his Dad and a neighbour covering Isaac’s open wound, telling them not to look.
We learned later that his wound was so close to the artery that he wouldn’t have made it if it had been a millimetre more.
— Lisa, Isaac's Mum
The East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST) quickly called for help from East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) due to Isaac’s trauma injury. The Anglia One (Norwich) crew was tasked by helicopter at 10:28am and quickly arrived on scene at 10:50am.
“I think I was in shock. I know the air ambulance is called for a reason; nine years ago, our nephew was attended by EAAA. Very sadly he died. It was so hard – and now I was petrified for Isaac,” Lisa says.
The helicopter landed nearby and, when the crew of Dr Liam, Dr Neil and critical care paramedic Sam were at Isaac’s side, Lisa says she knew he would receive the best care possible.
“I remember seeing cannulas, medication, painkillers as they worked to take Isaac’s pain away. He was terrified. There was a lot for him to cope with. I managed to distract him with my phone and, once some of his pain had been eased by the EAAA crew, it took some of the pressure off. He was particularly upset when his brand-new shorts had to be cut off; it was a small thing in the bigger picture, but it was important to Isaac.”
Isaac’s advanced pain relief was initially given to him intranasally. When the crew got an intravenous line into Isaac, he was given further IV pain relief and IV antibiotics to reduce the chances of infection. The EAAA crew then accompanied Isaac to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital by land ambulance.
“He was too frightened to go into the helicopter,” Lisa recalls. “My daughter, Jessica (20), works in the children’s A&E department at the hospital. When the call came in, her colleagues took her to one side to explain that her brother was the patient.”
On arrival at hospital, Lisa says it was like a scene from BBC’s ‘Casualty’ with so many people standing by for Isaac. “It became very real and really scary for us all.”
Isaac had a CT scan and surgery, which went well. He then spent a week in hospital before continuing his recovering at home. He found not being able to play with his friends difficult while he waited for his wound to heal.
“Thankfully, Isaac is fine now. The wound has healed, he didn’t need a skin graft and he’s back running around with his friends and doing PE at school. The scars are there but they will fade in time. He still talks about his incident and asks lots of questions.”
The family has also benefitted from EAAA’s aftercare support. This service for former patients, their friends and family offers valuable support and information in the turbulent aftermath of an incident. The Aftercare team also arranged a visit to Helimed House, EAAA’s Norwich headquarters, so the family could meet some of the crew and learn more about EAAA’s 24/7 life-saving service.
Lisa adds, “We would like to thank our neighbours and families for all their help on the day of the accident, especially Holly with her quick thinking by putting pressure on his wound, also everyone at EAAA and Laura at the Children’s A&E department, who took such good care of Isaac.
“We love East Anglian Air Ambulance, and we will do all we can to support the charity. We take part in the family route of Only The Brave (one of EAAA’s flagship fundraising events) each year. Last year, Isaac needed to go more carefully following his incident, and he avoided the water obstacles – but the grin when he crossed the finish line was amazing!”