Family of Christopher Hutchon donate equipment to hospital

Christopher Hutchon was killed by learner driver in January 2015.

LIFESAVING equipment has been donated to a hospital by the family of a man who died just weeks before his wife had been due to give birth.

Christopher Hutchon was knocked down and killed when a learner driver lost control of a car on Royal Deeside last year.

He was struck by the blue Skoda Fabia car as he cleared snow outside his home on the A93 at the Bridge of Gairn, near Ballater, on 18 January.

The 37-year-old was just weeks away from becoming a father for the first time with wife Kirstine.

A year later, Ms Hutchon and their daughter Annabelle – who was born two months after her father died – are now attempting to ensure his memory lives on. Since his death, a fundraising campaign has raised more than £14,000 to buy defibrillators for the Ballater area and plans are under way to train people to use them.

Grieving parents want to raise awareness of brain cancer

Mr Hutchon’s father, David, also revealed the family has donated a piece of lifesaving equipment to the Darlington Memorial Hospital, in the town where his son grew up.

He said: “It’s been such a horrible time for us all. But we have to try to carry on and do what good we can.”

The Hutchon family visited the hospital earlier this month, where David – a retired consultant obstetrician – used to work.

Following retirement, the medic carried out extensive research into a mobile resuscitation trolley.

Lifestart Units, as they are known, enable the treatment of newborn babies while they are still attached to their mother via the umbilical cord.

The Hutchon family, including toddler Annabelle, recently presented the hospital with its first unit as “a gift” in Christopher’s memory.

Mr Hutchon moved to the Bridge of Gairn Farm with his wife from the Falkirk area around three years ago.

On the day of the accident, he had been clearing snow from the road outside their house when the learner’s car swerved off the road.

The vehicle crashed through a fence at the side of the road, flipping down an embankment before landing on its roof and leaving Christopher fatally injured.

Prosecutors have since ruled that no charges will be brought against the driver of the car.