One of the participants in this year’s White Horse Challenge has good reason to be thankful to the Wiltshire Air Ambulance as he says it saved his life.

Gary Hopkins, 44, was working in a tree at a friend’s house in Trowbridge when he fell 15 feet, landing awkwardly.

Mr Hopkins, a father of two from Bristol, suffered catastrophic injuries and was flown by the Wiltshire Air Ambulance to the Royal United Hospital in Bath.

He was later transferred to Frenchay Hospital in Bristol where he underwent two operations on his back. He had smashed five vertebrae in his back and permanent titanium plates were inserted into his spine.

He also broke several ribs, punctured both lungs and his heart had been crushed. When he was admitted to hospital he was paralysed from the waist down but after three weeks he was able to walk again.

Mr Hopkins, a civil servant, said: “My surgeon said it was a miracle my spinal cord was not severed. If I had been taken to hospital by road ambulance I think the journey could have been too much for me and I may not have been able to walk again.

“The Wiltshire Air Ambulance is marvellous – it’s a vital resource and the crew are so professional.”

The accident happened in May last year and Mr Hopkins will be taking part in the White Horse Challenge over the weekend of June 6 and 7, walking 55 miles to raise money for the Wiltshire Air Ambulance Appeal.

Mr Hopkins said: “I have been given the gift of a second chance at life. I was very lucky and I want to give something back to the air ambulance.”

He has so far got £200 in sponsorship pledged but would like to raise at least £1,000. The appeal needs to raise £500,000 a year to keep the air ambulance flying.

The White Horse Challenge has different lengths of walks for participants, including a seven-mile family challenge. The complete challenge involves walking a circular route around seven of Wiltshire’s white horses.

In the past three years the White Horse Challenge, organised by accountancy firm Monahans, Lawn Tender, Premier Training and Rygor Commercials and sponsored by the Wiltshire Times and Wiltshire Gazette & Herald, has raised more than £30,000 for the appeal.

Full details about the challenge at www.whitehorsechallenge.co.uk.