A mother has thanked the Royal Navy for saving her baby's life 18 years ago. 

Kate Gardner was living on the Isles of Scilly when she was rushed to hospital just 28 weeks into her pregnancy in 2005.

She was airlifted by an RNAS Culdrose helicopter to Royal Cornwall Hospital where her son was born the following day.

Ms Gardner said the swift intervention of the navy undoubtedly saved the life of Jack, who recently celebrated his 18th birthday. She said: “His birthday just brought it all home to me.

“Jack is now a healthy six-foot-one amazing young man so I just wanted to thank you for getting me to the hospital so he could be cared for properly when he was born.”

Falmouth Packet: Kate Gardner lives on the Isles of Scilly when she went into premature labour with son Jack in 2005 Kate Gardner lives on the Isles of Scilly when she went into premature labour with son Jack in 2005 (Image: Family picture)Ms Gardner, who now lives near Exeter, said her bump wasn’t even noticeably showing when she felt pain and realised her contractions had begun.

 Once at St Mary’s Hospital, medical staff decided it was safer to have her airlifted directly to the mainland and the coastguard alerted RNAS Culdrose to send a helicopter.

“I can remember I was laying on a mat on the floor of the helicopter,” she added. “The midwife came with us. The crew were really lovely and kind.”

When Jack was born on the following day, he weighed 2 lb 2 oz and was placed in an incubator for a week.

Falmouth Packet: Jack has recently celebrated his 18th birthday which 'brought it all home' for Kate Jack has recently celebrated his 18th birthday which 'brought it all home' for Kate (Image: Family picture)Ms Gardner added: “The navy also flew us off St Mary’s again a few months later when Jack developed breathing problems overnight. Once again you got us safely to Treliske Hospital before he was transferred to Bristol for surgery to reconstruct his trachea.

“Without your help, I very much doubt my son would be alive today. ‘Thank you’ just doesn’t seem enough.”

A spokesman for RNAS Culdrose said: “We were delighted when Ms Gardner got in touch with us to share her memories of that fateful night – and delighted too to wish Jack a happy 18th birthday.

“Although the Royal Navy’s 771 Naval Air Squadron was disbanded in 2016 and our focus is now fully on defending the UK, we remain rightly proud of the squadron’s achievements which touched so many lives.

“Many of the personnel from the squadron remain working here at Culdrose. Some are now civilians while others remain in the navy and serve on frontline operations with the Merlin Helicopter Force.”