HOW TO NOMINATE
WHEN little James Davidson hears the whir of a helicopter flying over his rural home, he runs outside to wave at the pilot and shout “thank you” at the sky.
He does this because when he was two months old, the Scottish Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA) saved his life after he was mauled by one of the family’s dogs.
James’s mum Morven had turned her back for two seconds when their Patterdale terrier Rascal leapt on to their son’s pushchair and inflicted unthinkable injuries, damaging his airway, puncturing an artery and nearly removing an ear.
But within the hour, the air ambulance charity had airlifted the tiny tot to Aberdeen Royal
Infirmary where surgeons at the major trauma centre managed to save his life.
Morven, 31, said she and husband Derek, 33, will be forever grateful to SCAA, who won the Emergency Services Award at last year’s Pride of Scotland, for giving their little boy the chance to grow up.
The mum of one, who was working as a shepherd on the Invermark Estate in Glen Esk, Angus, when the accident happened, said: “James is a happy and energetic four-year-old. Every time we look at his smiling face as he bounces about the farm, we thank our lucky stars for the pilot and paramedics who came to his rescue just over three years ago.
“We have since moved to Kirkmichael, Perthshire. We live on the flight path for SCAA and each time James hears the whirring of the helicopter overhead, he runs outside to wave at the sky and say thank you.
“We will be forever grateful to the air ambulance because if it wasn’t for them our baby might not have made it. They are absolute life-savers. It is as simple as that.”
Morven said the day it happened will be etched on her memory forever but thanks to SCAA, their nightmare has a happy ending. She said: “While my back was turned, one of the terriers jumped on top of the pram and attacked James.
“His ear was torn and the dog punctured his airway and damaged an artery. I just felt dread and didn’t know what I was going to find when I looked into the pram. It would only have been the matter of a few seconds but it was almost fatal.
“He was slipping in and out of consciousness when they arrived. By road, the journey to ARI would have taken more than an hour.
“By air, the SCAA team had James there in