On 20 July 2017, Emma was out riding her horse Snorts before stopping briefly to take in a crisp sunrise, snapped a picture and sent it with a text to her mother “another beautiful morning.”

Continuing her morning ride, she waved to a passing truck driver. As the truck continued down the road, the driver witnessed Snorts rear up and watched as Emma fell from her horse. Thankfully, the passing motorist rendered first aid and emergency services were quickly on the scene.

Despite wearing a helmet, Emma suffered a fractured skull, traumatic brain injury, brain bleed and severe brain swelling.

Emma’s mum, Jean recalls “One of the nurses patted me on the shoulder and said, ‘she will need to go to John Hunter’ and I remember thinking ‘that’s going to be a very long way in an ambulance, how will she make it?.”

“And it didn’t seem very long after that these people in blue pushed through the emergency doors and it was the crew from the Westpac Rescue Helicopter,” Jean recalls.

The Rescue Helicopter transferred Emma from Moree Hospital to John Hunter Hospital where she underwent emergency surgery, including the removal of a piece of her skull to relieve the pressure on her brain. After a seven-day stint in ICU and three days in the neurological ward, she was transferred to Rankin Park Rehabilitation Centre on the grounds of John Hunter. Intensive daily physiotherapy helped her to walk, talk, swallow and use her hands again.

Eight weeks after her accident, Emma was transported by air to Kameruka House, a transitional living unit in the grounds of Tamworth Base Hospital to continue her rehabilitation and then eventually home to Moree.

Emma’s family acknowledges the tremendous and caring work of the Westpac Rescue Helicopter, NSW Ambulance, Local Health District, Moree Hospital, and exceptional teams at John Hunter Hospital and Rankin Park Rehabilitation Centre.

Eight years on, Emma is still riding horses and has become a passionate advocate for the Service, partaking in the virtual Base to Base events and fundraising for the Service. In the eight years since her accident her life has flourished; she married, purchased a property, and gave birth to her baby girl Lola. An outcome that seemed near impossible in July 2017.

As she reflects on her accident Emma said, “I think the Rescue Helicopter were crucial, they were able to take me from Moree to Newcastle for a lifesaving surgery… it would have been very different if they weren’t there.”