Woman preparing for first ever marathon after her family suffers serious injuries in crash

Lisa is taking part in the Manchester Marathon on Sunday 14 April. Credit: Great North Air Ambulance Charity

An Egremont woman is preparing to run her first marathon to raise money for the Great North Air Ambulance Service after her husband and sons suffered serious injuries.

They were injured in a head-on collision, with Lisa McCrickard hoping to raise £4,000 for the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) and the North West Air Ambulance (NWAA).

The air ambulance charities came to help 51-year-old Ian McCrickard and their sons Jack, 14 and Harry, 11. The accident happened on the A5086 on October 2018.

Jack climbed Scafell Pike earlier this year to raise money for GNAAS. Credit: Great North Air Ambulance Service

Describing what happened that day, Mr McCrickard said: “Another car came round the corner on the wrong side of the road and head on into us. It was that fast, I couldn’t react.”

Ian was trapped in the car for almost two hours, with Jack also needing to be released from the wreckage.

GNAAS doctor John Ferris said: “On scene we were able to provide advanced pain relief to Ian and his children, who had a number of serious fractures and some internal bleeding.

"By giving them some strong medication, this allowed us to remove them from the car they were in and prepare them for the flight before we took everybody to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle.”

Harry had sustained a broken shoulder, a fractured pelvis and a bleed to his spleen, while Jack had two broken wrists, a bruised lung, snapped his femur, and suffered damage to his teeth.

Their father, Mr McCrickard, had broken both of his legs, his left knee, a big toe, a finger on his left hand, and sustained lacerations to his hand and arm.

Jack and Harry spent three weeks in hospital and Ian spent four weeks in hospital. Credit: Great North Air Ambulance Service

The brothers were in hospital for three weeks and Ian was in hospital for four weeks.

Earlier this year, Jack climbed Scafell Pike with his friends and family to support GNAAS, and now his mother has decided to run the Manchester Marathon in 2024 to raise even more money for the air ambulance service.

She said: “I decided to do Manchester because a lot of people have said it’s a good course to run. I’ve never done a full marathon before, but I’ve done a few half marathons, including Liverpool, Carlisle and the Great North Run.

“It’s so important to keep supporting the air ambulance because still to this day I can't believe they are charity funded. You never know when you might need them.”

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