Survivor of serious carriage driving accident sews quilt for air ambulance
A retired nurse who almost lost her leg in a carriage driving accident has stitched a quilt to raise money for the air ambulance that rescued her.
Sandra Pochin from Wartling, East Sussex, broke her leg and six ribs when the horse she was driving bolted through a gate.
Sandra and the cart collided with a fence post.
The accident happened in August 2012 when Sandra was training the horse for the Riding for the Disabled Association’s carriage drivers.
The horse’s owner raised the alarm and the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance landed in a nearby field.
The doctor and paramedic onboard treated Sandra at the scene.
She was then flown to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, where she stayed for three weeks.
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Sandra has since made a good recovery and has helped to sew a patchwork quilt to raise money for the air ambulance.
“It’s our way of trying to help the air ambulance in the hope that they can make some money out of it,” said the 69-year-old.
“I couldn’t have been treated any better by them and I can’t praise them enough. I owe it to them that I still have my leg.”
The quilt took a team of eight ladies from Needleart four months to complete.
The sewers, Maureen Wadhurst, Pam Britton, Pauline McFee, Barbara Willis, Marianne Gunther, Ruth Willcox, Pat Norman, and Sandra, made each patch.
One of the squares on the quilt features the helicopter that came to Sandra’s aid.
It was taken to the helicopter base at Marden on 28 May and is expected to be auctioned off to raise money for the charity.
The Air Ambulance service in Kent, Surrey and Sussex costs around £6.5million a year to run.
The charity relies almost entirely upon public donations to support the two helicopters based at Marden in Kent and Redhill in Surrey.
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Lucy is an experienced news journalist, reporter and presenter. Since joining the Horse & Hound team in 2015, Lucy has reported from major global sporting events including the Tokyo Paralympic Games and multiple European Championships, as well as Badminton, Burghley and London, to name a few. She has covered current affairs and sports news across the full spectrum of equestrian disciplines and racing, as well as human and equine welfare, industry news and court cases.