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Terry's Story

Christmas is a time for family, for being together. I’m really looking forward to Christmas this year, seeing my children and grandchildren, sharing moments together; moments that become more precious as we get older.

But Christmas will mean so much more to me this year – because by rights, I really shouldn’t still be here.

My heart attack came in August of 2021. We’d just bought a static caravan up on the North Norfolk coast. It was somewhere we’d known all our lives and we saw it as a place for my wife Ann and I to have holidays, somewhere our children and grandchildren could enjoy. We’d gone there for the first time with a carload of stuff to get the caravan ready. Ann had taken our black labrador, Fern, out for a walk. I was unpacking the car and just carrying the third box when I suddenly felt very strange. I went inside, sat down – and the next thing I knew I was lying on the floor.

I thought, “Ah, well, I must have just fainted!” and carried on with the unpacking (I know, I know, what was I thinking?!). By the time Ann returned I felt really dizzy again, with a pain in my chest. I told Ann and she called 999 and a paramedic on a motorbike turned up within minutes. He plugged me into his portable ECG machine and said, “I think you’re having a heart attack.” In 20 minutes, an ambulance arrived and put me on their large ECG and said, “Yes, definitely a heart attack!”

And that’s when I realised. This was serious. These could be the final minutes of my life. Unbeknown to me at the time, Ann was told that it was extremely unlikely I would survive a prolonged journey by road to the hospital.

You see, I had lost two friends my age the previous year, both living in rural Norfolk. Both had heart attacks, both were reached by ambulance. Both set off for hospital – and both died before they got there.

Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever driven round North Norfolk in August, but in the middle of the summer holidays it takes an age to get anywhere and to get to the specialist heart unit at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital would have taken over an hour. All these thoughts went through my head, and I became dreadfully worried. I grabbed Ann’s hand.

And then, seemingly from nowhere, a wonderful, huge, noisy, bright yellow helicopter landed.

How they managed to land in such a tight spot, so close to the caravan, I’ll never know. I looked up and there was the doctor, and the critical care paramedic, putting sensors onto me, getting me on the stretcher, ready to fly me away. The only problem was the ground was so rough the stretcher couldn’t roll, so they asked me if I could walk the last bit to the helicopter. I think everyone in the large crowd that had come to watch must have thought I was making it all up!

But then I was on the helicopter and I waved to Ann, leaving her behind on the ground as we lifted off. Ann told me she waved to me as the helicopter set a course for Norwich not knowing if she was a wife or widow. In just 12 minutes, we landed at the hospital’s helipad, greeted by a whole team of people waiting to rush me into the heart unit like a scene from a Hollywood film.

Every single professional involved in my care that day was magnificent, I have nothing but praise and gratitude for them all. But one thing I can say with absolute clarity and certainty – without East Anglian Air Ambulance, I would not be here today. Coming to me so quickly, giving me vital out-of-hospital care right there in our caravan, getting me to the heart unit in 12 minutes; this is what saved my life.

Now, just over two years later, I am fit and healthy again, with three stents fitted to my heart. I am a passionate advocate of East Anglian Air Ambulance. I volunteer at events where I can, sharing my story with those who don’t perhaps fully comprehend how lucky we are to have this service working so hard and so tirelessly for us and our families. I want to ensure that other people like me; parents, grandparents, have the same chance of receiving the life-saving care that I did. So that they can look forward to another Christmas with their families, as I am so lucky to still be doing this year.

So, please join me in giving generously to this remarkable local charity this Christmas.

I know Ben, the critical care paramedic, has written asking all who support EAAA to help them to fund more missions and the kit they’ll need to keep them going this winter. Ben and his colleagues faithfully and dutifully respond every single time someone in our community needs them; I think we all need to respond to his call for help today.

With your support, more lives will be saved; the next one could be someone you love.

I also implore you to join me in sending a message of support and thanks to the crews at both the Cambridge and Norwich airbases. They will be working, for our benefit, right over Christmas and New Year. I was lucky enough to visit the hangar and meet the crew that saved my life a few months after my heart attack. Let’s take a moment to show them how much we appreciate their service by decorating both hangars with our words of support and encouragement.

Thank you. From my family to yours – I send you every wish for a wonderful, peaceful (and healthy!) Christmas.

Yours sincerely,

Terry Hawes

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