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URGENT APPEAL Cambridge Airport – home to East Anglian Air Ambulance’s Cambridge crew – will be closing, and without a base in Cambridgeshire, they risk losing half of the service that currently responds to medical emergencies across our region
E very day, five people across Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk need help from East Anglian Air Ambulance’s critical care team. People like baby Clayton who was born in January 2025 at just 26 weeks. CLAYTON’S STORY “I looked down and saw a baby boy gasping for air,” Clayton’s mum, Mia, recalls. The Anglia Two (Cambridge) crew, Dr Liam Neale and critical care paramedic (CCP) Jon Locke, were dispatched by critical care car from the East Anglian Air Ambulance Cambridge base. The equipment carried by the charity’s helicopters and critical care cars enables care to be delivered at the incident scene – when the patient needs it most. This includes sedation and anaesthesia, blood transfusions, advanced pain relief and surgical interventions. This, combined with prompt onward transfer to the most appropriate hospital, gives each patient the best possible chance of both surviving and recovering from an emergency. When Dr Liam and CCP Jon arrived, Clayton was alive but very unwell and it was a race against time. Taking Clayton to the back of a heated road ambulance, Dr Liam and CCP Jon began treating Clayton immediately, providing critical care in the moment he needed it most. Dr Liam explains: “Babies born this prematurely struggle to adapt to the outside world and often need help with their breathing. Even in a hospital setting,
NOW OR NEVER Mum Mia and baby Clayton (above) after he received hospital-level care at 26 weeks old
the hospital specialists. It was one of the most challenging jobs I’ve ever been to.” “They worked so hard to keep Clayton alive,” Mia says. Against all the odds, Clayton survived. HELP BUILD A BASE 24/7, 365 days a year, East Anglian Air Ambulance crews deliver hospital-level care to people facing medical emergencies. The charity isn’t just a quick transfer to hospital; they bring the emergency department to the scene, giving people the best possible chance. But right now, this lifesaving service is under threat. Without a Cambridge site, their air ambulance service will be cut in half – leaving just one base in Norfolk. With no crew in the centre of the region, tasking times to patients like Clayton, who are facing time-sensitive, life-threatening emergencies, will increase dramatically – putting local lives at risk. As a charity, every mission they attend is only possible thanks to public donations.
children this premature are at risk of dying. Being born at home increases this risk. The odds were against Clayton, and we needed to do all we could to help him.” Clayton’s tiny body was fighting really hard, but he was barely breathing, so Dr Liam and CCP Jon inserted a breathing tube so they could inflate his lungs. Dr Liam adds: “He was so small he could fit in the palm of my hand. It was a real test of our equipment and skills on somebody so tiny. We got him breathing again, then supported this until he reached
Please act now and donate £30 to protect the future of lifesaving care in the region, by visiting eaaa.org.uk/base
CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK JUNE 2026 63
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