A WOMAN who suffered a life-threatening brain haemorrhage has completed a sponsored silence to raise funds for the air ambulance that saved her.

Emily Harkin, from Haughton, in Darlington, completed her 12-hour sponsored silence to raise £201 for the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS), which airlifted her following a brain haemorrhage in 2008.

Unable to call out for assistance during her vow of silence, the selfless 20-year-old instead pressed the buttons on a musical Thomas the Tank Engine book in order to capture the attention of her parents, on whom she is reliant for care.

She said: “It wasn’t too bad in the end. I just wanted to do something for the air ambulance.

“I borrowed one of my nephew’s books, which made noise. I just pressed the button when I needed help with something.”

Her mother, Janet Harkin, said: “I think it was more difficult for us than it was for her. She knew she was feeling ok, but we had to guess.”

Recalling the incident in November 2008, Mrs Harkin said her daughter had collapsed at home - it was her second haemorrhage.

The GNAAS aircraft landed just behind the house and brought a doctor and paramedic to the scene.

Mrs Harkin paid tribute to GNAAS paramedic Jane Peacock, who having lived in the Haughton area in the past knew where to guide the aircraft down and how to gain quick access to the street.

Miss Harkin is due to start a web design course at Teesside University in September and plans to do more fundraising for GNAAS in the future.

Further donations can be made at createanddonate.co.uk/to/emily