A TYNEDALE woman who suffered multiple injuries in a three car-crash has thanked the rescuers who saved her life.

Heather Pringle was airlifted by the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) to the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) in Newcastle after the crash in Hexham last year.

The 32-year-old, who was in the car along with her sister Iona and mum Karen, had internal bleeding and other injuries including a collapsed lung and cracked ribs.

"I had internal bleeding and quite a few other injuries," said Heather, who lives in Hexham.

"The air ambulance treated me at the scene and then were able to get me to the RVI really quickly. I was really lucky that they were able to get there."

While Iona and Karen were not badly hurt in the crash on Allendale Road, near the South Lands junction, passenger Heather was seriously injured and was taken to hospital.

But she said she has since made a 'really good' recovery.

"It was the big surgery that I had at the RVI that was really the key thing," she said.

"It's taken a bit of time to get full strength back from that but I've been really lucky to be honest.

"I'm getting around a lot easier."

When Heather was in hospital, Iona and their brother Stewart decided they wanted to fundraise for the air ambulance service, which relies on donations, to thank them for what they did for their sister and all their life-saving work.

Iona and Stewart, along with more family members and friends, decided to sign up for the Allendale Challenge, a 26 mile (42km) walk which starts and finishes in the town where the Pringle family are from.

Heather, who works with Scottish Women's Aid, is also fundraising and is going to attempt the challenge and walk as far as she can.

"Because I'm doing so much better now I thought I would try and set my sights on that for me to do," said Heather, who completed the challenge in 2019.

"I found it pretty hard going then to be honest, and I was at full fitness so it will be hard but I will try and do as much of it as I can."

She added: "We've been quite keen from this to let more people know just how amazing GNAAS is.

"Living out here it's such a vital service because you know you're not always going to be able to get an ambulance by road as quickly as you might need it. The teams are absolutely amazing."

To donate to the Great North Air Ambulance Service via Heather's JustGiving page, visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Heather-Allendale-Challenge