Newmarket Journal
01 January 2009
By Alison Hayes
A RED Lodge schoolboy has enjoyed a very special Christmas with his family – a celebration they thought he might never see after he was critically injured in an accident which left him on a life-support machine.
Ten-year-old Aaron Bettoney suffered serious head injuries when his bicycle was in collision with a car in September. He had to be airlifted to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge with a fractured skull and spent two days on a life-support machine.
After weeks in hospital, he was able to return home where he is continuing to recover.
At the time of the accident, Aaron was wearing his prized Liverpool shirt, which had to be cut open so that paramedics could treat his injuries.
Police Community Support Officer Timothy Hartup, of the Mildenhall Safer Neighbourhood Team, was on duty at the time of Aaron's accident and wrote to Liverpool FC asking for a replacement shirt.
The club agreed and sent a new shirt along with programmes, posters and magazines. Aaron's friends had also clubbed together to buy him another shirt so he now has both the club's home and away strips.
Aaron was presented with the shirt at a meeting of the Red Lodge Youth Club just before Christmas when a campaign to make it a legal requirement for cyclists to wear helmets was also highlighted.
Aaron's mum Karen, who is backing the campaign, said: "It is probable that he would not have been so seriously injured if he had been wearing a helmet.
"I want it to be law for cyclists to wear them."
01 January 2009
By Alison Hayes
A RED Lodge schoolboy has enjoyed a very special Christmas with his family – a celebration they thought he might never see after he was critically injured in an accident which left him on a life-support machine.
Ten-year-old Aaron Bettoney suffered serious head injuries when his bicycle was in collision with a car in September. He had to be airlifted to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge with a fractured skull and spent two days on a life-support machine.
After weeks in hospital, he was able to return home where he is continuing to recover.
At the time of the accident, Aaron was wearing his prized Liverpool shirt, which had to be cut open so that paramedics could treat his injuries.
Police Community Support Officer Timothy Hartup, of the Mildenhall Safer Neighbourhood Team, was on duty at the time of Aaron's accident and wrote to Liverpool FC asking for a replacement shirt.
The club agreed and sent a new shirt along with programmes, posters and magazines. Aaron's friends had also clubbed together to buy him another shirt so he now has both the club's home and away strips.
Aaron was presented with the shirt at a meeting of the Red Lodge Youth Club just before Christmas when a campaign to make it a legal requirement for cyclists to wear helmets was also highlighted.
Aaron's mum Karen, who is backing the campaign, said: "It is probable that he would not have been so seriously injured if he had been wearing a helmet.
"I want it to be law for cyclists to wear them."
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