I'm fundraising for the Royal Flying Doctor Service

For the month of October I’ll be raising my steps to raise money for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Australia is a big country, and for those living and travelling in remote, rural and regional areas, access to immediate care isn’t a guarantee. When I saw the Outback to Ocean challenge was coming up, with teary eyes I told Matt I think it’s the least we can do.

In 2024, Matt, Delilah and I were doing our lap of Australia when we became a family needing the immediate help of RFDS. We’d done some big travel days, mixed with very hot hikes, when Matt had a stroke. We had been hiking through Karijini National Park the days prior, and had pulled up at a roadside stop about 3.5 hours out of Exmouth with nothing nearby. Matt experienced a few ‘episodes’ with the classic stroke signs being some of his symptoms. With Matt having multiple of these episodes in the passenger seat, I drove him toward Exmouth meeting an Ambulance half way. After a misdiagnosis of ‘severe dehydration and a migraine’ at the Exmouth hospital, I booked him a Telehealth appointment with a Melbourne Dr for a second opinion, and after explaining what happened we were quickly referred to Carnarvon so he could get a CT scan. I took Delilah back to the caravan while Matt stayed in hospital and waited for the results. The next day he called, and said “the Dr wants you and Daz to drive down to Perth, RFDS is flying in to get me”. They’d confirmed his stroke. 

RFDS is a service not many people think about until the time comes that they’re relying on it themselves. We are so grateful for the prompt, free, service they provided Matt and raising funds to support them this October is the absolute least we can do.

If you’re able to, any donation is an amazing donation xx