Waking up to an RFDS Medical Officer and a friend saying, ‘G ’day mate, welcome back’, is all Craig can remember from the moment he nearly lost his life.
The 53-year-old aviation mechanic was volunteering for the 2024 Cancer Council Winter Shitbox Rally in June when he suffered a cardiac arrest at Tobermorey Station, near the Queensland and Northern Territory border.
Craig had been tolerating uncomfortable heartburn symptoms during the rally and then, on the second last day, he collapsed while walking to his campsite.
“I can remember leaning up against the mudguard of a car trailer before I lost consciousness,” Craig said.
“Fortunately for me, one of the participants in the rally was walking past at the time and saw me hit the ground.
“At first, he thought I was drunk because it was described to me as having a fit.
“But when another guy walked past, he knew that I was in some trouble, raised the alarm, and started CPR on me.”
Thanks to the quick thinking of the event support crew, Craig was quickly connected to a defibrillator and oxygen, and a team of six people alternated in performing CPR on him.
Knowing the closest hospital was more than a five-hour drive away, the team called the RFDS from a phone number they had found inside the station’s RFDS Medical Chest.
RFDS Pilot Brady Thrift, RFDS Medical Officer Andrew Bai and RFDS Flight Nurse (Midwifery) Jenay Scannell were tasked from the RFDS Mount Isa Base to retrieve Craig from the closest airstrip, a 20-minute drive from the station.
After half an hour of performing CPR and three shocks from the defibrillator, the team became very uncertain of Craig’s future.
“The support crew doctor looked at me and said in a loud voice, ‘Craig, I know you can hear me, spit that airway tube out of your mouth for me’,” Craig said.
“Then apparently, I spat it out, opened my eyes and responded ‘G ’day mate’.”
Once Craig had been resuscitated, the team used swag mattresses and laid him onto a car trailer to transport him to the airstrip where the RFDS aircraft had landed.
“This story demonstrates our RFDS motto in delivering the finest care to the furthest corner,” Jenay said.
“Not many people survive a cardiac arrest out of hospital in metropolitan areas.
“For Craig to be in the middle of the outback with such a fantastic outcome is testament to the vitality of the services that the RFDS provides.
“Craig received life-saving first aid from his friends in those initial critical minutes and thanks to their actions, we were able to stabilise and support him, and fly him directly to specialty cardiac services in Townsville."
While the two-and-a-half-hour flight to Townsville felt like 30 seconds to Craig, it was a team effort to keep him stable during the flight and prevent him from going into cardiogenic shock.
“There’s no way I would have received the treatment as quickly as I did if it wasn’t for the RFDS,” Craig said.
“They took amazing care of me and when I woke up the following evening in ICU, Dr Bai returned to the hospital to check up on me and make sure I was alright.
“I just thought that was amazing because he didn’t have to do that.”
Craig was discharged and walked out of the hospital two weeks later with no lasting effects from his cardiac event, apart from the still-healing six fractured ribs and sternum from the CPR which saved his life.
“It took me a while to realise how close I came,” Craig said.
“If it wasn’t for the RFDS, I wouldn’t be here.”
