Emotional reunion for air ambulance crew and youngster airlifted after collapsing at Telford trampoline park

He was rushed by air ambulance to Royal Stoke Hospital, before being transported by land ambulance to Birmingham Children's Hospital the following day.

There, the youngster, who was living at Tern Hill near Market Drayton at the time, remained in a coma for around a week.

Tests revealed Denzel had CPVT, a rare condition that can cause arrhythmias - also known as abnormal heart rhythms - that can be brought on by physical activity.

After seven weeks in hospital, Denzel was sent home, and now aged eight, he has been fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), that will shock his heart when it picks up abnormal rhythms.

Eight months on, his mother, Mary Nafrue, reflected on that terrifying day.

"I'd just dropped him off for his friend's birthday party and we went to go get some food," she said. "It had only been about 10 minutes since we left and I got a phone call saying 'Mary, you need to get here now'.

"When I got there, it wasn't the same Denzel I dropped off 10 minutes before. He was unconscious, medics were already there.

"It was terrifying, I wondered if he was going to make it - if we were going to lose him."

In no time, the air ambulance had arrived, and the crew, including pilot John Darlow, critical care paramedic Chris Brooke and Doctor Matt Rowley loaded Denzel and his mother into the helicopter before taking the 10-minute flight to Stoke.

On Wednesday, Denzel and his mother were reunited for the first time with the incredible crew who helped save him.

Denzel, now a smiling eight-year-old slightly embarrassed from all the attention, remembers nothing from his life-saving flight and climbed confidently back into the same aircraft that transported him to hospital eight months ago, excited at the opportunity to have a go in the pilot's seat.

For Mary, the reunion was much more emotional.

"It brings back a lot of that day," she said. "But to meet the crew again means so much. I just can't say thank you enough. There aren't enough words, it's impossible. They saved my boy's life."

But for the crew, seeing Denzel up and about was thanks enough.

Matt said: "These are the cases that you do the job for. You go to so many bad cases that don't turn out this way, so it's nice to see someone who has done really well."

"To see their smiles," Chris added, "it just makes everything worth it."

By way of thanks, students, parents and teachers at Denzel's former school, Stoke-on-Tern Primary, raised around £3,200 for the Midlands Air Ambulance and Ronald McDonald House at Birmingham Children's Hospital.

The money raised has also gone to cover the cost of a lifesaving defibrillator at the school.

During the reunion, the family and Denzel's teacher at the time of the incident, Anna Mclean, handed over a cheque for £2,813.70.

The money was raised by a day of celebration that the school had called 'Denzel Day', with an auction and fete with dozens of donations from local businesses.

Anna said: "At the time he was at a birthday party of one of the children in our class, so a lot of the children there had also witnessed it. We really wanted to do something to make them feel better too and to give back and say thank you.

"To raise that amount of money is really good for a small school - we're only a tiny village school with just over 100 pupils, to have that much support from the community was amazing."

For the charity, the donation means another life-saving flight is funded. Each flight costs around £2,500.

Chris said: "This means they've kept us up in the air, and hopefully we can pass that back and it will save another life as well."