In May 2013, North Yorkshire entrepreneur Michael Wood was riding high.

He had a happy marriage, a fantastic home and a highly profitable business. Life was very good indeed.

Yet only a month later the 55-year-old suffered a catastrophic riding accident which very nearly killed him.

As he lay in the intensive care unit at James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, he heard his wife, Ena, say: “I promise we will get through this, whatever it takes.”

A year after his accident, ‘Whatever it takes’ is the title of his moving and funny account of his nightmare accident and his recovery. The main motive of writing his mini-memoir is to record his thanks and to raise money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance by selling copies for £10 each.

Michael, who lives in Boltby, near Thirsk, believes he owes his life to the speed and skill of the helicopter crew who came to his rescue.

A conventional ambulance was not able to reach him, after his horse, Diola, reared up and fell back on him in countryside near Gormire Lake, but an air ambulance was able to land nearby and whisk him back to the waiting surgeons at James Cook Hospital.

Incredibly, Michael didn’t realise he was badly hurt at first.

“I told my mate, Andy, give me 10 minutes to get my breath back and I will get back on,” he says.

In reality he had suffered appalling injuries to his ribs, pelvis and hips with a multitude of broken bones and doctors warned his wife that he might not make it.

“I can dimly remember the helicopter and hospital corridors and then I was out for four days. I woke up in intensive care after the first major operation. Then they operated again, for seven hours, to fix my hips and pelvis.”

Michael did not experience any serious pain from the moment of the accident, although the morphine helped later on.

During his recovery Michael was grateful to one particularly funny guy in the next bed.

“He had been in a very bad car accident yet he was so funny I had to ask him to stop because I was hurting so much from laughing,” he adds.

When Michael eventually began feeling more like his old self, after weeks in hospital and months of physiotherapy at home, he decided to do what he could to help the people who saved his life.

While he is also deeply thankful for the skills of staff at James Cook Hospital he is well aware that they are sustained by the taxpayer while the YAA depends on public donations.

“Not many people realise that air ambulances would not be flying if it wasn’t for donations,” says Michael.

“First of all I want to raise funds for the air ambulance but I do want to do something for James Cook as well, in the future."

A spokeswoman for the YAA confirmed that it costs nearly £10,000 every day to keep the YAA flying and praised Michael for his “remarkable”efforts to help them.

He and his wife hosted more than 200 guests – paying £50 a head - at a party in the grounds of their sprawling North Yorkshire home.

Guests, who included 20 trauma ward nurses from James Cook Hospital and a representative from the YAA, danced the night way in a huge marquee to the sounds of the Snake Davis Band and the Ruby Miller Quartet.

The bash raised £16,000 on the night but Michael is determined to make the final figure up to £20,000.

He is also working on a follow-up book which will focus on the work of paramedics and the NHS.

Recently Michael was able to saddle up again, for the first time since his traumatic accident.

He bears no grudge against Diola, who was found to have an underlying medical problem responsible for her fall.

“She is a very sweet horse. It was not her fault. The problem is sorted and she is fine now.”

Anyone wishing to buy Michael’s book should send cheques made payable to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance to The Economy Radiator Company, Unit M, Middlemoor Business PARK, Dalton YO7 3JD.