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A future as a rescue helicopter paramedic may be in store for Snells Beach student Emma-Jayne Clayden.
The 14-year-old Mahurangi College student took part in a four-kilometre fundraising fun run in February, running along the Snells Beach walkway and raising $800 for the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust.
Emma-Jayne’s run had a particular poignancy. Her mother, who passed away when Emma-Jayne was a toddler, was an ambulance paramedic.
She has been raised by grandparents Carol and John Morgan and they have been supportive of her interest in the emergency services.
Her older brother Josh was a volunteer at the Mahurangi East Volunteer Fire Brigade until recently, which saw Emma-Jayne become something of a station mascot, tagging along with him to the station since she was six years old. While Josh now works too far from the station to be involved, Emma-Jayne is still a regular visitor.
But it is helicopters, not fire trucks, that have grabbed Emma-Jayne’s fascination in recent years. She and Carol were recently invited to the Auckland Rescue Helicopter base at Ardmore for a day, after she made a helicopter rescue themed cake, complete with an icing helipad and helicopter.
