Woman reunited with air ambulance staff who saved her life

A woman who says she owes her life to the Welsh Air Ambulance has been reunited with the medics who saved her life.

Mandy Draper was cycling her bike when she was involved in a horrific collision with a car.

For the first time since the incident, Mandy was reunited with two Welsh Air Ambulance medics who came to her aid that day.

Ben Seabourne and Dr Ian Bowler were close to finishing for the day when they received the call to attend the incident in West Wales.

'When we arrived it was nearly dark,' Dr Ian Bowler said, 'The pilot told us we only had a few minutes to get there so we could land before it got dark.'

On arrival the crew realised that Mandy had some significant injuries and needed to be taken quickly to Swansea for urgent treatment.

'We knew that she had significant trauma and was going to need a lot of care,' he said.

Mandy had a punctured lung and, worryingly for the crew, a fracture in her spine which was in danger of causing damage to her spinal chord.

Thanks to the Air Ambulance, Mandy was able to get to the hospital in Swansea in 15 minutes.

Despite her serious injuries, Mandy defied doctors by running a marathon less than a year after the incident.

'Doctors said it was incredible how I survived,' Mandy said.

'He said he'd never seen anybody in his career get through what I'd been through and live to tell the tale.'

A large part of her recovery is thanks, in part, to the speed and attention she received from the Air Ambulance. She says she owes her life to them