A former police officer who suffered a horrific car crash on duty has spoken about how Police Children’s Fund helped his family in their time of need.
Jonathan Norton was a dog handler for Avon and Somerset Police. Whilst in his police vehicle, responding to a request to help detain a suspect, he hit black ice and careered into a traffic island. His car rolled off the road, six feet down into a ditch.
All the lights went out in the car, but the siren was still going so rescuers were able to locate him. The fire service, police service and Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance all attended.
Jonathan went into cardiac arrest and rescuers managed to drag him out of the vehicle. Paramedics gave him CPR and drained his lungs at the scene before a helicopter flew him to Southmead Hospital trauma unit.
Doctors thought Jonathan would die as he had two bleeds on the brain; he had also broken his collarbone, several ribs and needed an operation on his knee. Jonathan said: “I was in a coma on a breathing machine for about 10 days. Eventually they were able to take me off the machine, but I was still a 40-year-old bloke lying in bed, unable to talk, walk or eat. I had to be shown how to do it all again. I then got moved from intensive care to the high dependence unit.
“I was in hospital for four and a half months, then got moved to a brain rehabilitation unit in Bristol. They thought I’d be there for six months to a year. God knows how, but I walked out of there 10 weeks later. I tell you what, the NHS did a superb job.”
Jonathan was medically retired from the police, and Avon and Somerset Police Federation told him that Police Children’s Fund might be able to help support his family. He said filling in the form was “the best thing I’ve ever done”.
He said: “If I’ve ever had a question or an issue, the people at Police Children’s Fund always get back to me quickly. They really make a difference.
“That my kids were being looked after financially was a major weight off my mind. It helped with the basics such as school trips and school lunches. My son wanted to learn the guitar, so the money has helped him get on the guitar course at school. We’ve managed to get him a guitar, which he loves playing. And my daughter is now learning to play the keyboard.
“It’s helped the kids follow their passions in life. I don’t have to say, ‘Hang on a minute, we won’t be able to afford that’, because that money is put to one side every time, in a separate account, so I have their money safe for them.”