Telford gran Angela to jump for air ambulance after it saved her son

Angela Duce will jump from a helicopter at Langar Airfield in Nottingham on August 4. Her son Karl was airlifted to hospital in 2009 following a horrific crash between Wolverhampton and Cosford.

Part of a lorry's suspension broke loose and flew through the windscreen of his car, causing severe head injuries.

Karl, 33, had volunteered to do the jump himself, but was told his injuries meant it would be too dangerous. So he asked his mother Angela, 60, to step into the breach.

Angela, of Cornflower Grove, Ketley, said she had already received pledges of £500, and was hoping more people would support her.

"I am a little nervous," she admitted, adding that it was such a good cause that she felt she had to step in. "If it wasn't for the air ambulance, Karl wouldn't be here today. It's amazing what they do."

Karl, of Morgan Way, Ketley, has also organised a charity disco at the Wren's Nest pub in Wren's Nest Lane, Ketley, on August 1.

Karl was driving home with his uncle in the passenger seat between Tettenhall and Cosford when a skip lorry travelling in the opposite direction shed part of its suspension. A metal bar, weighing almost two stone, came hurtling towards Karl's car. He swerved in an attempt to avoid it, but it bounced off the road through his windscreen.

The metal bar pierced Karl's skull, perforating his brain and crushing his eye socket.

He said: "I really was in a bad way, I was in and out of consciousness, so at the time I didn't know the Midlands Air Ambulance attended.

"It was only afterwards that I found out the flight paramedics tended to my face whilst trying to make me more comfortable."

He added: "Even today, five years after the accident, I am still coming to terms with it.

"My family are the most important part of my life, and I'm so thankful to Midlands Air Ambulance."

• To sponsor Angela visit fundraising.midlandsairambulance.com/AngelaDuce