A PARAMEDIC suffering from a brain tumour gave his wife a birthday treat thanks to friends at the Essex Air Ambulance.

Adrien Paine, from Colchester, had hoped to treat wife Tracy to a helicopter flight for her birthday in May but could not because of his illness.

The East of England Ambulance Service worker mentioned this at a meeting with his chief exec Hayden Newton, who in turn got in touch with his counterpart Jane Gurney at the Essex and Herts Air Ambulance Trust and organised a flight.

Jane and her team went all-out to make it possible for Tracy to be a passenger on board a replacement helicopter for Herts Air Ambulance due to the respect between the two life-saving teams.