Jaden's story

When Jaden left Primary School, he was presented with an award for community fundraising after he raised money for East Anglian Air Ambulance. Little did he or his family, Dad Alex, Mum Gemma and younger sister Mia, know that a short while after Jaden would need the very charity he had helped to fund, as Gemma explains.

“It was Easter Sunday in 2025. Jaden, Mia and Alex had gone to the motocross circuit while I was at work. At 3.30pm, I received the dreaded phone call to say Jaden had had an accident.”

Jaden had been riding all day without incident. On his final ride on the last section of the track, he went to clear a jump. He took off but the bike went sideways away from him, and he rebounded off the ground before landing heavily.

When Alex learned what happened, he ran to Jaden as quickly as he could. When he saw his Dad, Jaden stood up, but he fell back to the ground with pain in his leg. Upon a closer look, Alex and Jaden saw a lot of blood coming from a large wound on his thigh.

The site medical team attended quickly, the emergency services were called and the Anglia One (Norwich) crew were tasked by helicopter. Alex made the call to Gemma, but he became distressed and had to pass the phone over to one of the track managers, who told her, “It’s pretty bad; we’ve got the air ambulance coming.”

At the scene, Dr Toby and Critical Care Paramedic Nigel supported colleagues from the East of England Ambulance Service. There were initial concerns that Jaden had an open fracture to his right leg, which would have required the advanced skills and medication of East Anglian Air Ambulance. After giving Jaden a full assessment, thankfully this wasn’t the case. The ambulance service were able to control Jaden’s bleeding and the our crew administered advanced pain relief before flying Jaden to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital where Gemma was waiting, unsure of how badly injured her son was.

“Somebody said, ‘Your son is four minutes away’. I didn’t know what to expect when the helicopter landed. It took a little while for him to be unloaded and I thought the worst. Then I saw a little hand wave at me and Jaden said, “I’m alright, Mum!”

Gemma continues, “I could see blankets, braces and all the equipment on the stretcher, there were cannulas, and gas and air for the pain. The East Anglian Air Ambulance crew spoke to me at the hospital and gave me a card with their names on and the number for the charity’s Aftercare service. The crew made sure I was ok and gave me a debrief. They didn’t just leave me; they took the time to speak to me.”

Jaden was taken straight to the Trauma Department where a whole team of experts was waiting for him. He was there for six hours, undergoing scans and checks for internal bleeding, but the main concern was his leg.

The significant laceration required surgery to have 30 stitches inside and 30 stitches outside. During surgery, Jaden’s temperature and blood pressure dropped, and then he endured issues with infection during healing which required antibiotics.

Gemma says, “The surgeon said that Jaden had done a 10/10 job! He was lucky as the laceration was an inch away from a major artery, which would have been a completely different ball game. You always think you won’t need the air ambulance. But Jaden was very lucky; he was wearing all the correct protective gear and is here to tell the tale.”

Our Aftercare Team reached out to Jaden and his family to support them and subsequently arranged for Jaden to meet the crew who treated him.

Gemma continues, “East Anglian Air Ambulance means a lot to us as a family. They got to Jaden quickly, dealt with him in a professional way and got him to hospital for the right treatment and care.”

For Jaden, it’s been a challenging few months of recovery but he’s looking forward to getting back on his bike so he can carry on riding and follow his dream to become a professional rider one day.