An outback nightmare: Lil's story

Agriculture runs in the blood of 29-year-old Liana ‘Lil’ Bryant, who since a young girl has lived and worked on remote stations in outback Australia.

Alongside her partner Sam, the couple manage Mount Doreen Station in the NT, one of Australia’s largest organic cattle stations spanning over 730,000 hectares, 400km northwest of Alice Springs.

“We get groceries delivered once a fortnight, the mail plane comes once a week, and we have to be pretty innovative when things go wrong,” Lil said.

“There's no mechanic nearby to call on, so it's gotta be Sam or one of the crew,” Lil said.

Living remotely, the Flying Doctor has been a constant for Lil and her family for as long as she can remember, with almost every member of her family, adults and children, having had an emergency flight at some point throughout their life.

But most recently, it was Lil who needed the Flying Doctor when she was fighting for her life just 48 hours after having her second child, Poppy.

“I woke up in the middle of the night to feed Poppy and, as I sat up in bed, I felt a lot of liquid and realised pretty quickly it was blood,” Lil said.

“Sam was trying to keep me calm because I went into shock – I started shaking.

“I rushed to the bathroom – we have white tiles and it looked like a scene from a horror movie. It was horrific for me, but more horrific for Sam and our staff members. It was definitely touch and go.”

Lil was experiencing a secondary postpartum haemorrhage, an unpredictable pregnancy complication that causes excessive bleeding after childbirth and can occur up to 12 weeks after having a baby.

With help at least four hours’ drive away via rough dirt roads and highways in pitch darkness, Lil’s only lifeline was to call the RFDS and the Medical Retrieval and Consultation Centre (MRaCC) in Alice Springs.

At this stage, Lil had already lost 500ml of blood.

“I spoke to a doctor on the phone and she gave Sam and me pretty clear advice of what to do and that she was coordinating an RFDS retrieval team ASAP,” Lil said.

The RFDS team prepared for dispatch with fluid pumps, syringe drivers, medical monitor devices, medications and a ventilator in case of Lil’s collapse. They were even prepared with blood from Alice Springs Hospital as a precaution.

“We also had our staff members Terri, her husband Tim and our nanny Bec assisting us and helping with the kids while we waited for RFDS to arrive,” she said.

“It was all hands on deck – whether it’s working in the yards or an emergency, everyone jumps in to help without a second thought.”

Meanwhile, the team at Mount Doreen prepared the station’s dirt airstrip for a night landing, following the RFDS’s official airstrip procedure and old-fashioned outback improvisation.

“It was very traumatic at the time. There was so much blood, and a lot of uncertainty with it all,” Sam said.

“It was not only making sure Lil was alright, but making sure the airstrip was going to be lit enough so the plane could land safely.

“We keep it regularly graded, rolled and maintained for this exact scenario. We had toilet rolls soaked in diesel, placed them in increments and lit them up.

“Thankfully, it created a pretty good airstrip – the RFDS pilot said they could see it from 20 miles out.”

The next challenge was moving a barely conscious Lil, who was continuing to lose blood, 5km from the homestead to the airstrip, safely.

“We had to be innovative – using our office chair like a wheelchair to get me to the car,” Lil said.

“The doctor told us to keep pressure on my uterus to stop the bleeding, so Terri was crammed between our two baby seats in the back, leaning across the front seat trying to do that for me.”

Lil and the team were met by an RFDS Pilot, Flight Nurse-Midwife and an MRaCC doctor, who immediately stretchered Lil to get her into the aircraft, so they could begin treatment out of the desert cold.

“I could see the panic and fear on Sam’s face – so when the plane landed I saw the weight lift off his shoulders knowing that help was here,” Lil said.

“I just grabbed him and said, ‘There's a doctor and a midwife here that can take over. You can be a partner – you don't have to try and save my life now.’”

The back of the RFDS PC-12 aircraft was a scene of controlled chaos with Lil on the stretcher and the doctor, nurse-midwife and Sam (carrying baby Poppy) occupying the only three seats.

To carry out the life-saving interventions and retrieve the necessary equipment and fluids, the team had to manoeuvre through the tight 30cm aisle gaps of the aircraft, while on their knees attending to Lil and comforting Sam.

The RFDS team administered fluids and medication via cannula, including tranexamic acid, which works by blocking the breakdown of blood clots to prevent bleeding, to ensure Lil was stable for the flight.

As the homemade flares began burning out, time was of the essence to get in the air. As soon as she was stable, Lil, alongside Sam and Poppy, were safely airlifted to Alice Springs Hospital.

“It would've been a long drive into town – it was in the middle of the night, there would've been roos on the road and the chances of puncturing a tyre was high,” Sam said.

“Knowing that someone is on the other end of a phone call, a flight away, to get that critical health care if and when it's needed. That's pretty remarkable.”

Following initial treatment and preliminary tests, Lil required further examination and treatment in Adelaide and was again airlifted with a medical crew on the RFDS PC-24 aeromedical jet.

She was diagnosed with a rare case of secondary postpartum haemorrhage, due to a collapsed uterine wall, remaining in Adelaide for several weeks to recover before returning home to Mount Doreen Station.

Lil has now enjoyed a stable couple of months at home at Mount Doreen and is cherishing life as a healthy young family, while she manages day-to-day station operations with Sam.

However, now that she has two children, Lil revealed that her confidence living the bush hinges entirely on the reassurance of the RFDS.

“I’ve always said I’ve never felt isolated where we live – it's a beautiful part of the world and the life we have is amazing,” Lil said.

“But in that moment laying on the bathroom floor, knowing that help was a 4-hour minimum drive away, I'd never felt more isolated in my life.

“If the RFDS didn’t exist, my kids probably wouldn't have their mum, which is a really scary thought.

“At the end of the day you can make exclusions for yourself as an adult, but once you have kids you realise you need that health care immediately.”