Kaz Deverill is part of a team organising a charity auction for Life Flight after the service saved her life five years ago. Photo / Rosalie Willis
Kaz Deverill is part of a team organising a charity auction for Life Flight after the service saved her life five years ago. Photo / Rosalie Willis
"Hearing the whirring sound of the helicopter blades above, I instantly felt relief and hope knowing the Life Flight helicopter and paramedics were coming to rescue me. I knew with their help everything was going to be okay and I would get through this."
This was local business woman and real estate agent Kaz Deverill's thoughts while in the middle of a life-threatening quad bike accident.
Five years on from the accident, Kaz still remembers it like it was yesterday and it is this which has inspired her whole workplace to get in behind Life Flight.
"The sound of the helicopter blades still has an impact to this day.
"Whenever I hear them I get emotional because it gave me such a sense of belief that I would be okay."
Back in February 2016 Kaz and her husband decided to book a quad biking adventure with a friend visiting from the UK on what was a beautiful summer's day.
But a bit of fun out riding in the Maungakotukutukus, a mountainous area in the hills behind Paraparaumu, quickly turned into tragedy when something went wrong and the quad bike rolled trapping Kaz underneath.
The rest of the group had already gone ahead and Kaz was left praying for a miracle.
"We hadn't seen anybody for three hours but the second I finished praying two guys turned up on motocross bikes and lifted the quad bike off me and sat me up."
However, Kaz was in a life-threatening condition and needed urgent medical help.
Due to the location and the serious nature of the situation Life Flight's Westpac Rescue Helicopter was called and Kaz was stabilised and administered pain relief by a paramedic before being winched into the chopper.
After many years of ongoing surgery and treatment Kaz has mostly recovered.
But the experience has changed her life and Kaz and her colleagues at One Agency Kāpiti and Porirua have committed to using their skills to raise money to help the people that helped her the most, Life Flight.
"When you look at what happened you realise how valuable Life Flight are.
"An ambulance couldn't have gotten up there."
One Agency Kāpiti and Porirua are now community sponsors of Life Flight and are running a charity auction at Paraparaumu Beach Bowling Club with all the proceeds going to Life Flight on Wednesday, March 10 at 7.30pm.
The auction will include two complete house sale packages, each one with an approximate value of $25,000, along with other prizes donated by local businesses together up to the value of around $60,000.
The transferable house sale packages include almost everything you need to sell your house including agency fees, lawyer conveyancing, photographs and superior marketing.
