Portaferry student recovers following accident

Portaferry student recovers following accident

5 February 2020

SIX months ago, Down High School student Ellie McDonnell was in a coma in hospital after her quad bike collided with a car driven by her mother.

Today the talented young show jumper from Portaferry — whose family feared she would never walk or talk again — is back at school and horse-riding again after a remarkable recovery.

The 15 year-old and her parents credit the speedy response of the air ambulance team for saving her life.

On July 23 last year Ellie was riding on her quad bake on a lane leading to her family home when she collided with her mother driving a jeep around a blind bend.

The day started off as a happy one for the family, who run a dairy farm, as Ellie had just heard she had been chosen to represent team Northern Ireland at a showjumping competition in Wales.

While the teenager thankfully does not remember the accident or much about that day, unfortunately, her mother Mary is still suffering flashbacks to the terrifying crash.

Ellie was thrown from the quad, crashed into the windscreen of the jeep and landed in a ditch at the side of the lane.

Her mother ran to her and phoned the emergency services. Ellie’s father Peter, brother-in-law Kieran and a neighbour were also quickly on the scene to help. Ellie sustained broken arms, legs, eye sockets, cheeks and teeth and had severe swelling on her brain. 

Due to the critical state of her injuries, the air ambulance was dispatched to the scene. 

When the medical team arrived at the family farm, they put Ellie into an induced coma to protect her brain – a procedure usually only done in a hospital environment.

But, because the medical team includes both a doctor and a paramedic, they are able to carry out urgent medical care immediately at the scene. 

The air ambulance subsequently transported Ellie to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast where she spent eight weeks, two of which in a medically-induced coma. 

Her family had been told to prepare for the worst as the extent of her injuries left doctors unsure of whether she would ever be able to walk or talk again. 

Discharged from hospital on September 20 last year, Ellie is now back at school studying for her GCSEs with plans to pursue a career in medicine.

Ellie said: “I don’t remember much about that day. All I know is that the air ambulance saved my life and without them I wouldn’t be sitting here today. I would just like to thank Air Ambulance NI for all that they have done for me.”

Her mum explained that she desperately tried to avoid the collision.

“I saw her in the last two or three seconds… and I tried to drive into the hedge but a telegraph pole stopped me and Ellie hit the front of my vehicle with the quad,” she recalled.

The sound of the collision has left an indelible mark on her.

Kerry Anderson, head of fundraising for Air Ambulance NI, said the organisation is so glad to hear that Ellie is making such great strides in her recovery and that the medical team was able to provide her with the urgent medical care she needed.  

“Air Ambulance NI is a vital service that depends on public donations,” Kerry explained.

“It costs £5,500 per day to keep our helicopter in the sky and accidents like this prove how important that is.”

The air ambulance operates seven days a week for 12 hours and since its first mission in July 2017, it has responded to to more than 1,100 call-outs.