A CAMBRIDGESHIRE doctor was unaware Magpas saved his girlfriend’s life when she was younger but was told before his 25,000 mile ride for the emergency charity.

Dr Chris Targett didn’t that Magpas doctors saved Sam Lyon’s life when a lorry crashed into the car she and her family were in and was told months before he embarks on a 25,000 mile trip.

A GP in Royston at the time, Dr John Hedges was called to the A14 at Wimpole where he found Miss Lyon, aged seven, moments from deaths after being catapulted from her mum’s Mini when the car’s petrol tank exploded upon impact.

Her five-year-old brother Anthony was burned to death in the incident which also killed Miss Lyon’s mum.

She said: “I can’t describe how it feels to have met John again. It feels like I know him but I don’t. Magpas means all the more to me knwoing that they saved me.”

Dr Targett, nicknamed Tigger, sets off on his motorcycle tour in January when he will ride to Greece before travelling to Egypt by boat. He plans to drive through Northern Sudan, Ethiopia, Malawi and South Africa and then fly to Nepal.

His journey takes him to India, Pakistan, Iran and Turkey and back through Europe to the UK.

Dr John Hedges said: “Meeting Sam today has been an amazing experience. To see how the first link in the chain of her recovery has had such a beneficial outcome had been truly moving for me”.

A Magpas spokesman said: “Sam hasn’t spent a day complaining about what happened to her, despite undergoing painful and intricate reconstructive facial plastic surgery. She has never given up and is a successful, confident and positive woman who works as a senior physiotherapist.”

Dr Targett said: “I feel proud to raise money for the charity that saved my girlfriend’s life.

For more information on his tour and to donate money visit www.tiggerstravel.org