Mum meets air ambulance crew who helped save her life

Shelley Masefield (centre) and her family with DSAA's critical care practitioner Ben Channon (second right) and events officer Alana Hardy (far right)

A mum-of-two who was taken so seriously ill that she was placed into an induced coma for five weeks has met the air ambulance crew that helped save her life.

Shelley Masefield was 30 weeks pregnant when she was flown from Dorchester to Portsmouth by Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance (DSAA) in August 2021.

Days later she was placed in an induced coma after her son Leo was born by caesarean section and transported to a London hospital for life-saving care.

Following a “long and difficult” path to recovery, Miss Masefield has completed fundraising efforts for the DSAA to thank it for its care.

She said she arrived at the Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester on 5 August 2021 in a “very bad state” and was admitted to intensive care with Delta Covid pneumonia.

By 10 August, her condition was critical and doctors decided Leo needed to be delivered.

Shelley Masefield and Leo on the way to meeting the DSAA crew

The “nervous flyer” was then airlifted to Portsmouth, where Leo was born the next day and where she was placed into an induced coma, and then returned to Dorchester for intensive care.

But her condition deteriorated and she was taken to Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London, where an artificial lung pumped oxygen around her body.

She was gradually taken out of the induced coma from 18 September and awoke on 25 September to meet Leo for the first time.

Miss Masefield raised £534.40 for the DSAA with a sponsored walk along Weymouth’s seafront in October 2023 and presented the charity with the money when she met charity staff.

“Myself, Leo and my entire family will be forever grateful for the role you have played in our lives. I look forward to our future and hope to raise more funds and awareness for the charity as the years go by,” she said.

Sam Rutherford, a patient and family liaison nurse for the DSAA, said: “I am so pleased to have been able to offer my support to this family and wish them all the very best for the future.”