Crash survivor Beth gives up her 21st birthday presents to help Air Ambulance

Instead of asking family and friends for gifts, Beth Tyson has managed to raise about £2,200 for the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance charity, exceeding her deliberately chosen £2,100 target.

And Beth - who was seriously injured after a horror crash on the A46 in Middle Rasen in December 2013 - even held a fundraising party in her back garden on Sunday, with stalls, a raffle, live music and a bouncy castle.

She said: “I don’t need anything new - and without the air ambulance I wouldn’t have been here celebrating my birthday.

“Any money people would have spent on presents or cards I’ve asked for a 
donation to the air ambulance. It’s nice to help.”

And Beth’s mum Caren said she was ‘very proud’ of her daughter.

She said: “She’s just such a caring girl, I’m very proud of her.

“She just wanted to give a bit back for the help she got.”

On the evening of the crash that changed Beth Tyson’s life forever, the air ambulance sent a doctor and two paramedics to her rescue.

Beth, who is from Tealby, said: “They got to the scene and realised I was really trapped.

“The pilot dropped off the crew.

“A doctor and two paramedics stayed at the scene and I got extra care.

“That care is just as important as flying to hospital.

“The doctor made the decision to pull my left foot because it was going blue.

“That’s the reason I still have my foot today.”

Due to night flying restrictions the ambulance was unable to take Beth to hospital - the crash happened around 6pm and it had to be back to its base in Waddington, near Lincoln, for 7pm.

The crash left Beth with a crushed left foot, broken bones in her wrist and fractures in her neck, back, chest, wrist, thighs and lower left leg.

She was trapped in the car for two hours before undergoing five hours of emergency surgery and spending 24 hours in intensive care.

More than three years on, Beth still suffers pain on a daily basis, needs a wheelchair for long distances and has been forced to give up her dream of being a paramedic, like her mum.

She said: “The thing that upsets me is how it’s affected my life and what I’ve lost from it.

“That’s still really hard.

“It’s still a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions and getting upset.

“I still get pain on a daily basis .

“This week hasn’t been great for pain.

“I’ve just got to grit my teeth and bear with it.”

Accepting it was no longer possible for her to become a paramedic, Beth got an administration apprenticeship at East Midlands Ambulance Service.

She said: “Before the accident I wanted to be a paramedic - that’s not going to happen now.

“I’m really, really happy I’ve got the apprenticeship within the same industry I wanted to work in.

“It’s going amazingly.”

Margaret Lakin-Whitworth runs the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance shop in Market Rasen and had a stall at Beth’s party on Sunday.

She said: “She’s [Beth] doing really well, I’m really pleased.

“To give a bit back is nice of her.”

The crash happened when Adam Hill, 35, of Grimsby Road, Caistor, ploughed his £32,000 Audi A6 into Beth and friend Kate Hunter’s car, after driving on the wrong side of the road.

Kate also suffered life-changing injuries and was forced to give up her Olympic dressage dream.

Porsche sales manager Hill was sentenced to 15 months in prison last July after being found guilty of two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

He was jailed at Lincoln Crown Court with sentencing Judge John Pini saying: “I found very little remorse but rather a desire to avoid conviction.”

Hill was released from prison just four months into his sentence.