Shrewsbury biker bounces back from horror crash to complete half marathon for lifesaving rescue team
A woman who was so badly hurt in a crash she spent seven weeks in hospital bounced back to complete a half marathon and raise funds for the team who helped save her.
Ruth Cork from Shrewsbury was riding her motorbike on the A65 at Kirkby Lonsdale in Cumbria with a friend, who was on a separate bike, on August 19 of 2022 when she was involved in a collision with a car.
Miss Cork, who is 36, can't recall the crash itself to this day. Several of her bones were broken including her femur, pelvis, sacrum (at the base of the spine), jaw and cheekbone.
She also suffered a bleed on the brain and a number of crushed vertebrae.
A critical care team from the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) flew to the scene by helicopter and worked with the North West Ambulance Service to help Miss Cork.
She was given a blood transfusion and flown to Royal Preston Hospital in 14 minutes. She spent the next seven weeks in hospital and underwent surgery to mend some of her broken bones.
Because she worked in the military, she was then transferred to the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre at Stanford Hall near Loughborough, and regained the ability to walk over the next 14 weeks.
She had been planning to run the 2022 Shrewsbury Half Marathon but had to pull out because of her injuries.
On her ordeal Miss Cork said: “My recovery has been long and challenging, but I've had a lot of help through it.
“On the major trauma ward the nurses were fantastic, the doctors were brilliant and the physios at Preston got me standing up, and then when I transferred to Stanford Hall, we did a lot more work with hydrotherapy and physio work to get me back to a state of walking.
“It's been a progression from Zimmer frame to crutches to stick to then having no aids at all.”
She was able to enter the Shrewsbury Half Marathon in 2023, a year after she had planned to - and having resolved to complete it for GNAAS, she ultimately raised more than £1,000 for the charity.
She said: “I was still not technically at the point of running, so I decided I would walk, but my competitive streak got ahead of me.
“So a slow jog/walk/run-type thing happened and 13.1 miles later I completed it.
“There were a lot of people that helped me on the route of my recovery and it was Preston that saved my life at the time, but I wouldn't have got there if it hadn't been for GNAAS.
"I think if I had to transfer by road, there was a chance that I might not have quite got there.”
Miss Cork recently travelled to the GNAAS base in Langwathby near Penrith and met members of the charity’s critical care team, including Dr Mark Byers, who administered a blood transfusion after the crash.
She said: “It was a bit surreal coming to the base, as it was coming up the same road that we went down on that day and I recognised the routes.
“I don't remember the people who helped me so it’s a bit odd and surreal, but it's very nice to come back and see what the team do, where they're based and see the kit that they use.”
Miss Cork has even returned to riding a bike and wants to become a volunteer for Blood Bikes, who provide a free out-of-hours medical courier service of blood and related medical products.
She said: “I am back on a bike, unfortunately for some people - but that’s what I find a zest for life in, and the aim now is to become a blood biker, to give something back to that as well.”
GNAAS needs to raise £8.5m a year to remain operational. To find out more about how you can support the charity visit gnaas.com or call 01325 487263.
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