Just three weeks after surviving a horrific car crash, a Norfolk family is organising a fundraising night for the air ambulance 'heroes' who helped them on the road to recovery.

Teenage sisters Elizabeth and Vickie Lee, from Freethorpe near Acle, were badly injured in the accident on Long Lane in Strumpshaw on Friday, April 13.

They were travelling to Norwich with Elizabeth's fianc� John Flinton, 19, and their friend Phoebe Preston, 16, when a sudden rain shower caused the car to skid on a long bend and spin into the path of an oncoming Land Rover.

Elizabeth, 19, broke her right leg, kneecap and foot, her left ankle, her collar bone and her breast bone.

Vickie, 16, fractured two lower vertebrae – but it was the painful laceration around her waist, caused by her seat belt, which medical teams feared could have indicated a broken pelvis and abdominal injuries. This is why she was airlifted by the East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA).

Their mother Lesley Lee said it was 'every mother's nightmare' but has wasted no time in organising a charity auction at Acle High School on October 26 to raise money for the EAAA.

Mrs Lee, 50, who works in dementia care for the NHS at Carlton Colville, near Lowestoft, said: 'Our overwhelming feeling is gratitude to everyone.

'At the end of the day, the good guys were there for my family and I would like to think that by raising some money they are going to be there for someone else's family as well.

'We are hoping that local businesses will support us by donating something for the auction. We need to keep the good guys flying.'

One silver lining from the accident was that it inspired Elizabeth to fix a date for her marriage to John, who pulled her from the car despite suffering a broken collar bone himself.

She said: 'We were planning a long engagement and there was no rush, but you never know what is going to happen and he means so much to me that we are going to get some money together and I am getting him down the aisle. He was a hero.

'It gives us something to look forward to, even though I will be in plaster casts for months.

'I was not really aware of my injuries. I was in complete shock. I couldn't even see. My legs kept collapsing under me. I didn't know if it was the shock, but I couldn't put any weight on my legs. It just felt like a bad dream.'

John said: 'I just did what was required. When I saw oil on the road my purpose was to get everyone out of the car before it went bang.'

The two sisters are recuperating after spending 12 days at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, and both need wheelchairs to get around outside the family home on Old Chapel Road.

Vickie said: 'I had at least five people tell me that if we had gone by land I could have lost my mobility.

'I remember having three paramedics with me. They were trying to roll me onto a backboard and my hair was getting caught in all the Velcro. It was really painful. The man from the air ambulance took my hair and curled it round so he could move it, and so it didn't hurt me. He stayed with me all the way to A&E. It is little things like that which were really important.'

EAAA spokesman Helen Dodman said: 'We're incredibly grateful to Lesley for all the hard work she's put in to fundraising for the charity. Many of our supporters and fundraisers are people who have either been helped by us or know someone who has, but to hear from someone so soon after an incident we've attended is remarkable.'

?To donate auction items or to give to the family's fund, contact Lesley Lee on 01493 700797 or graham576lee@btinternet.com.