MUM: MY HERO WILLS
Mother of tragic teen praises air ambulance Prince haunted by child deaths
THE mum of one of the tragic children who tipped Prince William “over the edge” as an air ambulance pilot last night praised his heroics.
Sarah Lea’s son Robbie, 16, drowned despite a rescue bid by the royal, who has spoken of his trauma witnessing child deaths.
She said: “I can’t thank Prince William enough.”
STILL struggling with the unimaginable pain of losing her teenage son, devastated Sarah Lea found comfort in an unexpected source – Prince William.
The royal was part of the air ambulance team that tried to save 16-year-old Robbie when he accidentally drowned while swimming with pals.
Sarah did not know until the next day about William’s involvement in the rescue bid when a friend told her: “A prince tried to save your prince.”
And the 33-year-old praised the former helicopter pilot for speaking out about his own struggles with seeing youngsters die in the course of his work – hoping it will raise awareness about the mental trauma of grieving for a child.
She said: “I can’t thank Prince William enough. For what he did to try to save my son on that terrible day and for now speaking out on mental health issues.
“It shows our future king is human. It was a brave thing to do.” Sarah claims she and her other son, Mason, seven, have had little in the way of psychological help since Robbie died in May last year. She said: “I have really been let down by the system.
“There has been very little support at all. I am still in therapy with bereavement and psychiatric counselling but my father-in-law has had to pay for it privately. And I’ve struggled to get the right support for Mason. But I certainly haven’t been let down by Prince William.”
William, 36, this week spoke about the trauma of attending child deaths as a co-pilot with East Anglian Air Ambulance between 2015 and 2017.
He also discussed improving mental health
GRIEF Sarah and photo yesterday care at work. The prince said: “I worked on several traumatic jobs involving children and after I had my own I think the relation between the job and my personal life is what took me over the edge.
“I started feeling things I’ve never felt before and I got very sad and very down about this particular family. The only
place you can talk about it is at work and if you don’t necessarily have the right tools or the right environment at work you can see why things can snowball and get quite bad.”
Sarah, of Cheshunt, Herts, told of the horrific moment she heard Robbie had drowned at nearby North Met Pit Lake. She said: “I was in complete shock.”
Robbie could swim but still got into difficulties in the lake because of his lack of experience in open water conditions.
Sarah has since set up the Robbie Lea Water Safety Partnership in his memory.
She said: “Our aim is to raise money to raise awareness of the dangers of swimming in open water unsupervised. I don’t want another family to go through what we have to.”
A palace source said: “Prince William was involved in a number of sensitive cases where children didn’t survive which had a profound effect on him. He feels speaking about it has not only helped him but hopes it will help others in similar positions.”