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Antonia Roskill: my story

This summer, it will be ten years since Antonia Roskill was cared for by Thames Valley Air Ambulance. But, to Antonia, the memory of that day is still fresh. 

It was a sunny day in July 2014. Antonia had three young children all under the age of ten. Like any parent to young children, Antonia’s life was busy. But that summer was especially eventful, as they had just sold their house. They were in the middle of packing to move and were also squeezing in a family holiday to the Isle of Wight.  

Living in Lambourn, the family are into horse riding and the children were learning to ride on ponies. That Friday afternoon, the house was packed up ready for their trip to the Isle of Wight and all that was left to do was to collect the children’s ponies. With her husband at work, Antonia dropped the children to play at a friend’s house, attached the trailer to the car, and drove to the nearby field where their ponies were kept alongside other horses.  

I knew I had to get help before it was too late

Antonia Roskill

A million things running through her mind ahead of their holiday and house move, Antonia parked up. Leaving her phone in the car, she walked through the field to get to the ponies at the far end. Carrying a bucket with her, she noticed one of the other horses was showing a bit of interest in her but didn’t think anything of it. 

She walked on, ahead of the horse. Suddenly, Antonia felt a surge of pain like she had never experienced before: “It was a bolt from the blue”, she recalls, “the horse kicked me in the back with both hind legs. I didn’t even hear it approach. The pain was unbelievable, I’ve never felt anything like it.” 

The force of being kicked by such a powerful horse flung Antonia to the ground where, she says, her mind began to race: “I was struggling to breathe. I thought I was going to die. I didn’t have my phone on me, but I knew I had to get help before it was too late.” 

In a nightmarish scenario, Antonia was alone in a rural field with no way of attracting help. She remembers hearing someone in the nearby yard and trying to scream for help, but they were cutting the grass and could not hear her over the sound of the lawnmower. She knew something very serious had happened to her lungs, with every scream she felt less able to breathe and she tried desperately to get herself to the road so that she could get someone’s attention. 

Luckily, at this point, someone happened to walk past and notice Antonia in her desperate state. The walker ran over and called 999, as well as the only landline number Antonia could remember, her mum. 

Soon the Thames Valley Air Ambulance crew were on their way. Antonia remembers hearing the helicopter approach and feeling both relieved and frightened at the same time: “I was so pleased that help was on its way, but I’m terrified of helicopters. I started to get into a state of panic about what would happen next.” 

The crew landed in a scrub area next to the field and quickly set about examining and caring for Antonia. “Somehow they managed to calm me down” she recalls “They gave me much-needed pain relief and they told me to think of something happy and my favourite music. They explained everything they were doing as they put me on a stretcher, got a head brace on me and got me into the helicopter. I was so scared of what was happening, but they managed to reassure me. In fact, they even made me smile! During one of the most traumatic moments of my life, I felt utterly safe in their care.” 

I felt utterly safe in their care

Antonia Roskill

Antonia was taken to the John Radcliffe hospital, where she stayed for just over a week. The force of the horse’s kick meant she had punctured lungs and several broken ribs. Doctors inserted a chest drain, to remove blood and air that had gathered in the space around her lungs after her injury.  

Eventually she came out of hospital and the family went on their pre-planned trip to the Isle of Wight. Antonia remembers the holiday as a pain-filled blur: “I just sat like an old lady on the beach, wrapped in blankets. I couldn’t really move.” 

After that, the family still had the small matter of a house move. Moving house is a stressful time for any family and Antonia vividly recalls wondering how she was going to cope with it all so soon after the incident. “I walked into the new house, and I just burst into tears. I kept having to go back to the hospital for tests because my chest wasn’t healing. It was around a year until I made a full physical recovery.” 

The mental recovery took a little bit longer. “I don’t ride like I used to. It’s knocked my confidence. If I’m on my feet near a loose horse, I can get very frightened. What happened will always be with me.” 

Ten years on: “I’ve always wanted to say thank you”

What happened in that field ten years ago has stayed with Antonia ever since. One thing she often thinks about is the crew who treated her: “I never said goodbye. I never said thank you. I wouldn’t even know who they were if I saw them in the street. But they saved me. Without them, I don’t think I would have made it through that day.” 

“I’ve always wanted to say thank you to this lifesaving local charity. You quite literally never know when you will need their help. I didn’t think, when I set out on my own into the field that day, that my life would be in their hands. I don’t know what life would look like if it wasn’t for Thames Valley Air Ambulance.”