Mother's heartfelt message to paramedics

A MOTHER has issued a heartfelt message of thanks to paramedics who rushed to the aid of her baby son after his pushchair flipped through the air following a collision with a car.

Six-month-old Myles Hart was strapped to a spinal board and airlifted to hospital following the accident in Sudbury, which brought rush-hour traffic to a halt as roads were cleared to allow the helicopter to land.

Both the youngster and his mother Stacey Millbank, who was also involved in the collision in Waldingfield Road on Friday

miraculously escaped with only minor bruising.

Speaking from the Sudbury home she shares with Myles' father, Russell Hart, Ms Millbank described the moments leading up to the accident and the panic she felt afterwards.

The mother-of-two had been walking to a garage close to her Talbot Road home to pick up her car following an MoT test when the collision happened.

Ms Millbank, who took most of the impact's force, was thrown to the floor, and eyewitnesses have since told her Myles' pram flipped over twice before coming to a rest with its wheels in the air.

"I heard Myles screaming, and I just remember saying 'oh my god' over and over again," she said. "After I got up from the road, my first instinct as a mum was to pick my baby up, but a paramedic who was driving home from work after a shift had stopped and was already at the pram.

"We are very fortunate that he was there, and although I don't know his name, I want to say a big thank you to him.

"At the time, I just couldn't think - I was just sitting there, holding Myles' hand and trying to talk to him."

Ms Millbank was distraught when paramedics told her she would be separated from her son as he was transferred to the West Suffolk Hospital, in Bury St Edmunds, by air ambulance.

She added: "It felt like forever waiting for it to arrive, although I actually think the helicopter landed fairly quickly.

"But I was only told at the last moment I would not be able to go with Myles. It was horrendous to watch as they put him in the helicopter, and he was still screaming and screaming."

Ms Millbank was also taken to the West Suffolk Hospital by road following the accident, and had to wait just over an hour for test results on Myles' condition to come back.

Myles' most serious injury was an allergic reaction to tape used to secure his head to the spinal board. Both mother and son went home that evening.

"All the time, the thought of 'what if' kept going through my mind," added Ms Millbank. "What if my little girl Phoebe had been with me? And what if Myles hadn't been strapped into the buggy? It was this that kept him in the pram when it turned upside down.

"It must also be a driver's worst nightmare, not just colliding with someone, but also with a baby.

"But I am very grateful, and it was almost like a miracle that we weren't badly injured. I want to thank everyone involved in helping us, along with the staff at the hospital who were brilliant."