Christmas Flying Doctor 2020

Graphic: Christmas Flying Doctor 2020

Santa won't be the only red-belly in the skies this Christmas

Date published

18 Nov 2020

This Christmas, the Flying Doctor's lifesaving red-belly aircraft and crews will be on call across the state, ready to respond if Western Australians need our help this holiday season.

Graphic: Barrow family

Flown to safety by the Flying Doctor twice during her pregnancy, Pilbara woman Ree Barrow knows just how important this help is when things go wrong. 

Ree has road tripped around Australia three times and seen the signboards for Flying Doctor airstrips. But she never thought she'd find herself in a position where she'd need to use the service not once, but twice, in the space of a year.

Last year, Ree was nine weeks pregnant and living in Karratha when she started experiencing intense pain down the right hand side of her body. 

Later that night, she was rushed to the hospital by ambulance after collapsing at home from the pain. 

"Without the RFDS, I may not have survived the ectopic pregnancy and my daughter would not have survived," she says. 

This Christmas, Ree is sharing her Flying Doctor story to support the service's fundraising efforts to bring help closer to home to all who live, work and holiday throughout WA. 

You can watch Ree's Flying Doctor story here