One moment, Jen was riding across her Tihoi paddock.
The next, her horse spooked - and she hit the pumice track hard.
The pain was instant and overwhelming. Jen couldn’t move. She lay alone on a quiet hillside, more than 25 minutes from Taupō and far from any road. She remembers the sky above her, the sound of her horse standing nearby, and the fear that something was seriously wrong.
Jen is practical and resilient. When her phone automatically called her husband, her instinct was to play it down. Don’t worry. Don’t call for help.
But her husband did - calling 111 and activating the beacon.
That decision changed everything.
By road, it would have taken more than an hour to reach hospital. With a suspected spinal injury, every bump risked making things worse. Time mattered.
Then Jen heard the helicopter.
That sound meant help was coming - highly trained professionals who knew exactly what to do. The Aerocool Rescue Helicopter crew stabilised her carefully, protected her spine, and flew her to Rotorua Hospital in around 30 minutes.
Jen had suffered a badly fractured and compressed L1 vertebra. Doctors told her she had been incredibly close to permanent injury. Without the speed and specialist care of the rescue helicopter crew, the outcome could have been very different.
Recovery wasn’t easy. Six weeks later, the fracture still hadn’t healed. There were difficult days - physically and mentally.
But six months after the accident, Jen entered her first Western riding competition. Not because she was fully recovered, but because she needed to prove she still could.
She’s back doing what she loves - just more carefully now.
There’s one message Jen wants others to hear:
Make the call.
“Don’t worry about being a nuisance,” she says. “These crews are trained. They save futures.”
Jen’s rescue wasn’t luck.
It was made possible by people who choose to support the Aerocool Rescue Helicopter.
Your generosity keeps this lifesaving service ready - for farmers, families, neighbours, and anyone who needs urgent help in a remote place.
Because one day, it could be someone you love.
Or it could be you.
