A mother-of-one who was given emergency medical treatment on a roadside last summer following a head-on crash has been reunited with her lifesavers.

Suzanne Martin was not expected to survive the accident, which happened on June 30, after breaking both her legs, her arm, collarbone, ribs and toes, as well as puncturing both her lungs and damaging her spleen and liver.

The Swaffham nurse still has no memory of the crash on the A1065 near Castle Acre.

Now, nearly eight months on and almost fully recovered, she has met the doctor and paramedic who saved her life – and asked them questions about that day.

Dr Dhakshinamoorthy Vijayasankar and critical care paramedic Dan Cody, from emergency medical charity Magpas, had been flown in by the East Anglian Air Ambulance.

They anaesthetised her, inserted chest drains and cared for her on the roadside until she could be driven to Addenbrooke's Hospital, in Cambridge.

Mrs Martin said: 'I wanted to put faces to names and to be able to meet them face to face and say thank you to them personally.

'It was also a case of wanting to find out what they did on the day. They hold some of the pieces of this jigsaw puzzle I'm trying to put together.'

The Helimedix, who carry out emergency treatment at the scenes of serious incidents, took her through everything they had done, including where the air ambulance had landed, so Mrs Martin could build up a picture of the scene.

The 35-year-old, who hopes to return to work soon, added: 'It was nice to hear that I did answer some questions after the accident and was able to tell them some things.'

This week, her seven-year-old son Sam gave the medics a specially-made card which said: 'Thank you for saving my mum.'

Police rushed Mrs Martin's husband Paul to the hospital on the evening of the accident because doctors thought she was dying.

His wife said: 'Without the care I was given by Magpas, I believe it could have been a very different story and somehow simply saying 'thank you' does not seem enough.

'I owe the Magpas Helimedix my life. Had they not been there, I don't think I would be here today.'

To show her gratitude, Mrs Martin held a 24-hour bikeathon in November in aid of the charity and this week presented her lifesavers with a cheque for �1,130.

Another cheque for a further �1,130 will be given to the East Anglian Air Ambulance.

She said: 'Both my husband and I have worked in healthcare as nurses for some time, but we had never heard of Magpas. It is such a phenomenal service.'

victoria.leggett@archant.co.uk