Ambulance crew make Linda’s wish come true

5th April 2024/inNews, blog, latest news

A wish come true for Linda

When time is short, it’s often the little things that make the biggest difference.

One patient’s ambulance transfer from Derriford Hospital to St Luke’s specialist unit at Turnchapel last week turned into a very precious journey indeed when the crew took a detour to grant her wish for one last look at the sea she loves.

“It was life changing… unbelievable. There were buckets of tears, but they were happy tears,” says Linda.

Linda’s bucket list

Alliance Pioneer Group ambulance team Chris and Jazmin were chatting with Linda after they picked her up from the hospital in Plymouth, where she had been an inpatient for several weeks. They asked her whether she had a bucket list. Linda told them she’d completed hers years ago, but she would love to go to her favourite stretch of coast in Cornwall just one more time.

“I said you can take me for my last ride around Whitsands. We were halfway through Plymouth at the time, and I was kind of joking. I mean, it’s not really on to ask an ambulance to divert miles around the coast!” says Linda.

But after one quick phone call to their control, the dedicated patient transport ambulance was on its way to the Rame peninsula where Chris and Jazmin chose a parking spot that gave Linda a fantastic view of the waves through the window.

Friends reunited

“I prefer the sea when it’s really rough and it was white water to the horizon. It was absolutely perfect,” she said.

And that wasn’t all. On the way back, before crossing the river to Plymouth, they drove Linda a little way inland to her favourite lake and her best friend was able to rush down through the lashing rain to meet her there.

It’s the things you don’t do that you regret

“I said goodbye to a lot of things that day, which I hadn’t expected. My journey to St Luke’s and my arrival was like an epiphany; it was like a whole new world opened up after spending weeks in hospital.

“They say in life it’s the things you don’t do that you regret, and I firmly believe that.”

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