Cyclist relives horror crash for TV SPOTLIGHT ON LIFE-SAVING WORK OF YORKSHIRE AIR AMBULANCE

YORKSHIRE Air Ambulance serves 5m people across Yorkshire and carries out more than 1,250 missions every year.

The charity, which operates two state-of- the-art Airbus H145 helicopters, needs to raise £12,000 every day to keep saving lives. steep descent and I just wasn’t concentrating,” said Tom, who lives at Arnside, Cumbria.

“I remember this corner coming up and thinking why I am going this fast. I threw the bike into a speedway-style slide but both wheels hit a kerb at the same time which catapulted me off the bike like a pole vault and I did a Superman impression straight into a stone wall. The next thing I was lying by the wall struggling to breathe. Everything after that is a bit like being in a dream world.”

YAA paramedics Tom at the scene before airlifting him to hospital in Middlesbrough in just 20 minutes. The journey by road ambulance would have taken a gruelling hour-and-a-half.

The 53-year-old underwent seven hours of surgery to repair his back and collarbone, with metal rods inserted on either side of his spine. Despite his injuries and significant nerve and muscle damage he was back on a bike within three months and has since raised £3,000 for the Elland-based YAA. Tom Phillips, back on his feet following treatment for the multiple injuries he sustained during a bike ride in the Yorkshire

“Within an hour of coming off my bike I was in hospital,” said Tom. “That quick transfer made the difference between being in hospital a few days or being in a couple of months.’’

Just a month before his accident Tom witnessed an air ambulance in action when he was first on the scene of a nasty cliff fall in Cornwall.

“I remember being really impressed seeing the air ambulance in action in Cornwall and now I know at first hand just how vital they are and what a difference they can make to people’s lives.”

Tom’s rescue appears in the first episode of the new series of Helicopter ER.

The programme is made by York-based Air Television, which has won two Royal Television Society awards for its work on the series.