Just four years ago David Stamp spent his 14th birthday in a coma, with his family standing vigil at his bedside.

David underwent emergency surgery and a bolt was put into his skull after he sustained massive head injuries when he was hit by a motorbike.

This week David was surrounded by his family once again – as he celebrated his 18th birthday after making an almost full recovery.

The Stamp family, from Buxton Crescent, North Cheam, launched an appeal for the Air Ambulance, and asked friends and relatives to make donations to the lifesaving service, rather than buying presents for David’s birthday, his sister Katie’s 21st, father Peter’s 60th and to mark the arrival of David’s sister Clare’s new baby Hayden.

The family held a big fundraising party at the weekend, and hope to raise hundreds of pounds.

In July 2005, a Honda 125cc motorbike ploughed into David – a former Cheam High School pupil – as he sat with a friend on wasteland behind Ridge Road and Kimpton Industrial Estate.

David’s mother Rosemary said: “It was an awful time. We didn’t know if David would make a recovery, and at one point we thought we were going to have to switch off his life support machine.

“If it wasn’t for the Air Ambulance David might have died.

“Instead he went back to school part-time in September. He gradually went full-time and he got a good education.”

Mrs Stamp said her son, who is now a construction worker, still suffers from some memory loss, but otherwise has made a full recovery.

She said: “The Air Ambulance does a great job, and I hope we have raised a lot of money – the party was such a great success.”

If you would like to make a donation to the Air Ambulance appeal, contact Rosemary Stamp on 07746 673217.

• Got a great story for us? Let us know by email here, phone the newsdesk on 020 8330 9555 or leave a comment below.