Needing urgent and life-saving surgery for acute pancreatitis, John needed quick transport from Dubbo to Sydney and we were there to help.
While working on his Dubbo property, John had felt unwell with abdominal pain.
After waiting to see if it would improve, he called an ambulance and was taken to Dubbo Hospital.
After several days of stabilising John, it was determined he was suffering acute pancreatitis and needed a procedure known as endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), a process that clears obstructions in the bile duct.
The closest surgeon able to perform this complex surgery was almost 400 kilometres away in Sydney.
Travelling by road with John in such a critical state wasn’t an option so the Flying Doctor was called in.
“A man and woman dressed in the Flying Doctor uniform walked into the room in the hospital with a wheelchair and said ‘we’ve come to take you to Sydney’,” John said.
“They drove me out to the airport and then onto the tarmac and then I was on the plane. Next thing I knew I was in Sydney. It really was that quick. We took off, I heard the engine note change and I thought we must have been turning, but we were coming in to land.
“There's no way I would've survived going down by road and I wouldn’t have been able to travel on a commercial flight and get myself to hospital so the RFDS was exactly what I needed. They were great.”
John’s partner, Sherrie Fay Carter, said she hated waiting to see if John was going to be ok, but was grateful to everyone who helped care for him at his time of need.
“The RFDS were amazing, and I would 100 per cent recommend them to anyone who needs the service,” Sherrie Fay said.
