Ludlow schoolboy seriously injured in crash returns to school
A 12-year-old boy who spent several days unconscious in intensive care after being knocked down by a car on the way to school is now back in the classroom.
Rhys Bradley, who suffered a bleed on the brain, a fractured skull and a torn liver after the accident on Henley Road in Ludlow, has rejoined his classmates at Ludlow School less than a month after the accident which left him fighting for his life.
The youngster cannot remember the accident on September 24 or being flown to Birmingham Children's Hospital in an air ambulance, and still feels sick and suffers headaches on occasions following the accident.
He is currently attending school lessons during mornings as he continues to recover from the crash.
His friends in Year 8 at the school organised three coffee mornings and collected money at football training to buy a get well soon card, a football and a Manchester United shirt for Rhys. And Rhys decided to donate the rest of the money they had raised to Midlands Air Ambulance for helping to save his life.
Rhys, who lives in Rocks Green Crescent in Ludlow, was discharged on September 29.
He said: "I was on the way to the shops to meet friends before school. I can't remember much about it, not for the first couple of days afterwards.
"My two uncles and aunties came to see me and I can't remember that."
He said he had had a few scrapes before and even a broken arm, but had never had to stay in hospital - and one month on he was still recovering.
"I'm good now, but I still get headaches and feel sick, and my shoulders and knees hurt," he said.
Andrew Price, one of the group of friends who all live in Ludlow, said: "We usually meet each other at the shop but one morning he wasn't there. We thought he was ill.
Another friend, Regan Tonkinson, said: "We then saw two police cars and an ambulance go past and two people came down and told us what had happened."
Harry Parsonage said: "I almost fainted. I wasn't very happy at all."
Harry said that very morning the friends decided to do something.
"Me and Regan came up with an idea to raise some money for Rhys at the school, and they gave us permission to do it," he said.
"There were three mornings when we went around the form groups asking if anyone would like to donate and we ended up with £260. We did another two mornings and we were just on the edge of £300.
Regan added: "We also raised £50 at football training. We got we all signed a card and football, and with the money we raised we got a Man Utd shirt."
Phil Walker, learning resources manager at Ludlow School praised Rhys's friends for their actions.
"I think it's phenomenal, especially as they have done this all off their own back," he said.
He said pupils at the school had raised £8,000 for good causes in the past year.
Maria Jones, Midlands Air Ambulance fundraising manager for Shropshire, said: "We're extremely grateful because without donations from people like Rhys and his friends we wouldn't be able to provide the service that we do."
Gina Constable, 65, a retired staff nurse from Shrewsbury who volunteers for the air ambulance, said: "The importance of it is that it kept his family together - his father went with him on the helicopter.
"It's always a joy to meet somebody who has survived something as traumatic as Rhys. When they say 'I don't remember anything about the helicopter journey', it's a story I never tire of hearing - because it means they are standing there to tell it."
