Anniversary bypassed: Dion & Darryl's story
To Dion and Darryl... the RFDS is the reason Dion is alive today.
A trip away is usually a fitting anniversary gift. But for Dion and Darryl Temu-Evans, this year’s celebration involved a plane, a stretcher, and a medley of medical leads.
For the couple, most Saturdays begin with a Heart Foundation walking group, followed by coffee with friends. But in March 2025, something felt very wrong for Dion.
“We were going at a nice, leisurely pace when I started feeling this pain and pressure – like something was squeezing my heart,” he said.
“I started to get concerned. I told Darryl I needed to get to the hospital.”
They went straight to Alice Springs Hospital, where Dion explained his symptoms.
“Suddenly, they started ripping open my shirt and shoving lots of different sticky things on me,” Dion recalled.
“They said, ‘You need to get to Adelaide. The Royal Flying Doctor Service will take you.’”
The cardiologist explained to Darryl that even though Dion was talking, he was “actively having a heart attack”.
Watch the above video to see what happened next.
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