DRIFTING in and out of consciousness and surrounded by the dark of a remote cave, Janice Brown feared for her life.
She had fallen some 50ft before landing on to solid sandstone, breaking her back in the process, a pain so severe she recalls it vividly despite not remembering much else.
Miss Brown was deep inside the cave network beneath the Yorkshire Dales on an expedition with the Surrey Scout Caving Club with whom she volunteered.
Her fall happened after a bulge in the rope attaching the amateur caver to the wall of the underground crevasse had appeared and during efforts to straighten it out she plunged into the shadows.
The Cotmandene resident, who has lived in Dorking for 38 years, doesn't remember much after her fall, apart from being loaded on to a helicopter and being transported to the nearest hospital.
Speaking to the Advertiser, the 62-year-old recalls the lasting impression the accident in 2000 has had on her life. "I am in continuous pain and am not able to do lots of the things I used to but life goes on," she said.
So caught up in the event that has now defined her life, Miss Brown wrote to Royal Air Force Charitable Trust in March asking to have a look around the helicopter that saved her and put some old demons to rest.
She added: "All I remember from being picked up was the immense wind as all the doors are open in a helicopter when you're flying so I wanted to see what it actually looked like."
She then received an invitation to the Royal International Air Tattoo event in RAF Fairford in the Cotswolds, where she was finally reunited with a Sea King rescue helicopter.
Speaking after Friday's event, Miss Brown continued: "To have a tour of the Sea King was absolutely brilliant.
"When I was put in one I had no idea what was going on so today has really completed the incident for me. It was lovely to meet them. The whole day was fantastic and I have never been treated so well in all my life. It has been nice to finish that chapter of my life."
