A BOY who had 'minutes to live' after falling from a climbing frame has beat his fundraising goals to donate more than £2,600 for those who saved him with a raft of fundraisers.

In June last year, Joshua Johnson was playing in the back garden when the unimaginable happened. He fell from the top of a climbing frame and tore the main artery in his arm, putting his life in grave danger.

Terrified mum Angela Johnson said: “Josh landed on his arm which folded backwards on itself. It completely snapped his wrist, arm and main artery.

“He was screaming and his dad managed to pick him and walk with him into the house to call for the ambulance.

“The ambulance arrived and there wasn’t time to get him to hospital by land and he had to fly to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

“We were told he had to be in theatre within the hour to save his arm and save his life, he was just bleeding so much.”

The youngster, who attends school in Daisy Hill, had a life-saving operation and after a week's stay in the hospital, he was determined to say thank you to the medics who came to his aid.

Marking one year since the horrific incident, the family first raised just over £2,400 in a seven-hour-long sponsored walk. The route covered the 20-mile journey from their Hindley Green home to Alder Hey Hospital completed by the air ambulance in just seven minutes.

But the grateful family have now pushed their total over the £2,600 mark with even more fundraising efforts.

Mrs Johnson said: “If it wasn’t for the air ambulance, I think it would have been a completely different outcome, they were such an important part of saving Josh.

"I couldn’t just not do anything when I found out they were a charity. We wanted to say thank you because you never know when you might need them.”

The family took part in the East Lancs car boot sale and boosted their numbers. The proud mum said: "We wanted to reach a total of £2,500. At the car boot sale we managed to raise an amazing £244.76 bringing our total to £2669.85. We are ecstatic."

Joshua, now a high school student, is making a promising recovery, his mum saying: "They gave him six to 12 months to get the feeling back in his arm. It's still a little bit numb sometimes, but he's doing really well."