Sophie returns to mercy flight that saved her
THE COUNTESS of Wessex celebrated the 21st anniversary of an air ambulance service that airlifted her to hospital during a medical emergency.
The countess lost her first baby in December 2001 after being flown to hospital by a Thames Valley helicopter following an ectopic pregnancy.
She underwent a two- and- a- halfhour operation to save her life.
Climbing into an EC135 helicopter, a familiar duty in her role as patron, Sophie joked to pilot Dave Webber: “I’ve been in here so often I could fly it myself. Now watch me fall out.”
Sophie spoke to air ambulance patients including former RAF pilot Spencer Hillier, from Lacey Green, Buckinghamshire, who suffered life- threatening injuries when he was hit by a car while cycling in May 2019.
Mr Hillier, 47, who flew Hercules transport planes in Iraq and Afghanistan, said that despite some of his riskier missions while flying for the RAF, the closest he came to dying was in the cycling accident.
He said: “The doctors at Thames Valley Air Ambulance, who fought to save my life by operating on me for two hours by the side of that road, are the reason I am here today.”
He and Sophie discussed the dangers of cycling with inconsiderate drivers around and she told him that boy racers in high- powered cars plagued the roads near her Surrey home.
The countess’s visit to the airfield came before National Air Ambulance Week, which begins on Monday. She was appointed TVAA’s patron in January last year.