Member Article

Businessman gives festive thank you to Midlands Air Ambulance Charity

A businessman who credits the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity with saving his life after a near fatal car crash has donated £1,000 to the charity as a festive thank you.

Kevin Stevens, Managing Director of the E5 Group, which has property, care and minerals interests and is based near Henley-in-Arden in Warwickshire, handed over a cheque to fundraising executive Kay Starkey at the charity’s Stourbridge headquarters in lieu of his business sending Christmas cards.

He has been a regular donor to the airborne medics since the 70mph crash in 2012 that resulted in him sustaining catastrophic injuries when a suspected stroke at the wheel caused his right foot to slam on the accelerator. After clipping a tree, this car spun uncontrollably and crashed into a tree side on, causing Kevin to suffer further life-threatening injuries.

The timely rescue and medical intervention that included land ambulances, the fire service, police and two air ambulances, including one of the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity’s helicopters, played a crucial role in ensuring Kevin went on to make a full recovery.

He said: “I have little memory of what happened on that day but I’m in no doubt that I wouldn’t be here today if it hadn’t been for the emergency services and the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity.

“I know I received advanced critical care to stabilise my condition whilst I was extracted from the vehicle before being flown to the major trauma centre at Coventry’s Walsgrave Hospital where I was in a medically induced coma for over a month.”

Kevin’s extensive injuries included several fractures to his skull and he broke all but three ribs and his back. His heart went into cardiac arrest 17 times while he underwent surgery.

Since going on to make a miraculous recovery, Kevin has been a firm supporter of the charity and organised events and made donations to support its lifesaving work.

Kay Starkey, West Midlands Regional Fundraising Executive for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, added: “Kevin’s incident was so traumatic that our critical care team was rapidly dispatched and took advanced care, medicines and equipment to the scene. We are so glad Kevin is still with us and are truly grateful for his generous gift this Christmas.

“The donation will help fund four further lifesaving missions in our critical care cars, which alongside our air ambulance helicopters, tend to incidents just like Kevin’s.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by E5 .