It takes people like you and me to keep the CapRescue team in the air. The service needs our support and it’s at this time of the year when the Annual Appeal is up and running where you can donate and know it’s going to help someone like Fiona.
On January 2, 2025 Fiona and Bevan Baker set out on a morning ride determined to make the most of the year ahead, spending time together and enjoying the moments that matter after a difficult period of family health challenges.
But on a wet stretch of road near Dululu, everything changed in an instant. A hidden diesel spill made the surface dangerously slippery. The bike lost traction, fishtailed, and both Fiona and Bevan were thrown from their bikes.
Separated and seriously injured, the moments that followed were uncertain. Bevan was found first, disoriented and trying to understand what had happened, not knowing where Fiona was or how badly she was hurt. Fiona lay further from the road with critical injuries. Ambulance crews arrived and provided urgent care, but for both of them, the most critical help, the sound that brings hope, was still on its way. They were transported to Dululu Showgrounds to wait for CapRescue.
The crew quickly reconfigured the helicopter to carry two patients for the urgent flight to Rockhampton Hospital. Fiona’s condition was life-threatening. She was bleeding internally from a ruptured spleen, with multiple serious injuries. On board, the helicopter became a flying intensive care unit, where the crew worked tirelessly to stabilise Fiona’s condition mid-flight.
“I started waking up eight days later, unaware of what had happened and unable to talk as I had a breathing tube in my mouth,” Fiona recalls.
“Ange, our daughter, said ‘Mum, you’ve been in a bike accident, Dad’s injured, but okay and he’s in the ward downstairs and you’re in intensive care in Rockhampton Hospital’. It was all very surreal.”
The road to recovery has been long, with weeks in hospital and ongoing care at home.
“We still cry sometimes, but not always from pain, painful memories or loss, also because we are thankful to be alive and thankful to God for the good things in our lives,” Fiona reflects.
“It has also made me realise the extent of rescues required for such a big area, and how much money, time and effort it takes to provide such a service.
“I am thankful every day that we are still alive and doing so well. A lot of that credit has to go to CapRescue who are superheroes in our eyes.”
For 30 years, CapRescue has been that promise in the sky, that help is on its way. In life’s most critical moments, it’s a sound that brings hope, delivers care, and gives families like Fiona and Bevan’s the chance to keep moving forward.
| For more information on CapRescue’s Annual Appeal head to: https://caprescue.org.au/support/annual-appeal/ |
