Living in the Pilbara, little Savannah loves being outdoors and playing in the red dirt. The sixyear-old was climbing a large tree in her family’s Tom Price backyard when she slipped from a branch and fell almost five metres.
Mid-fall, she sliced her face on the sharp edge of a shipping container in the yard.
Her mum Rachel found Savannah on the ground, dazed and injured. Unsure of the extent of her injuries, Rachel tried to keep her daughter as calm and still as possible.
Local police, firefighters and an ambulance crew arrived and worked together to safely move Savannah onto a stretcher, mindful that she could have broken bones or spinal injuries.
“As the ambulance drove away with Savannah inside, her twin Amahlia was beside herself,” recalls Rachel, who was pregnant with her fourth child at the time.
Savannah was taken to Tom Price Hospital. Doctors were concerned about the possibility of internal bleeding and a punctured lung. They also suspected she had broken her collarbone, an arm and fingers, but they didn’t have the medical imaging equipment to know for sure.
The RFDS picked up Savannah in the Rio Tinto LifeFlight jet from Paraburdoo and flew her to Perth. She was then transferred to Perth Children’s Hospital for tests.
Scans revealed that miraculously, despite such a huge fall, Savannah hadn’t broken any bones or suffered internal bleeding. She did have a serious concussion which affected her speech and thought process for about four weeks. She also underwent facial surgery to make sure the cut near her eye healed well.
Life can change in the blink of an eye and when you live regionally, the RFDS is vital.
The family of six are currently exploring Australia in a caravan.
Savannah’s accident put everything in perspective – life is short, and you have to make the most of every day.
Rachel, Savannah's mum