Joel Rawlinson was air lifted in 2008

 

A mother from Camelford says if it wasn’t for the Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust, her cheeky little boy would not be here.
 
Joel Rawlinson, three and a half, was just seven months old when he contracted meningococcal septicaemia in January 2008.
 
He has since had both his legs amputated, his right one below the knee and left one through the knee, and uses prosthetic limbs to walk.
 
But mum Catherine says now Joel is a “monkey” who loves getting into trouble as much as any other little boy.
 
“He’s an absolute rogue - a proper little boy who’s getting up to everything,” she said.
 
It was the immediate action of the Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust which saved Joel’s life.
 
Catherine says on the night of January 1, 2008, he was difficult to settle to sleep and had a high temperature.
 
The family called Kernow Doc, but couldn’t find what was wrong.
 
The next day, Catherine left Joel with her husband, Simon, and popped into town. But Simon quickly called Catherine home.
 
“Joel was looking a bit grey and really not well. I instinctively pulled his top up and found five purple spots on his left shoulder,” she explains.
 
“I did the glass test and when they wouldn’t go away, went straight to the doctors.”
 
The Rawlinsons’ GP immediately called the air ambulance, which arrived within 10 minutes and took Joel and Catherine straight to Royal Cornwall Hospital Treliske.
 
Within half an hour, Joel was put on a life support machine, and was later taken to Bristol Children’s Hospital, where he spent seven weeks there and had his right leg amputated.
 
He spent an additional five weeks at RCH Treliske. Two years later, in February 2010, Joel’s left leg was amputated when it failed to grow correctly, due to damage from the meningitis.
 
Catherine remembers the early weeks of Joel’s illness: “When I look back, it was horrific, but there’s something in your head that makes you go on auto pilot.
 
“We have three other children, and while I was with Joel in Bristol, it was several weeks before I saw the others. That was hard.”
 
Joel now enjoys going to nursery school and playing with his brothers and sister: Rebekah Northey, aged 16, Liam Northey, 13 and five-year-old Joseph.
 
The family are hugely grateful to the CAAT, which funds the ambulance to the tune of £1.5 million per year needed to keep the helicopter flying.
 
Catherine said: “If it wasn’t for the Cornwall Air Ambulance, he would be dead.
 
“You can’t put into words or describe the support we’ve received from them. It is an invaluable charity, and they don’t get the recognition they deserve. They saved Joel’s life.”
 
This story originally appeared in the Cornish Guardian, as part of the appeal to raise funds for new heart monitor and medical equipment on board the helicopter.
 

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