Far North firefighter Mitchell Brown is urging others to get behind this year's rescue helicopter appeal.
Far North firefighter Mitchell Brown is urging others to get behind this year's rescue helicopter appeal.
Seasoned firefighter Mitchell Brown knows the value of Northland’s rescue helicopter service because it saved his life.
The Fire and Emergency NZ Northland community risk manager is sharing his story as part of the Chopper Appeal Month, an annual fundraiser for the rescue helicopter.
Brown’s closecall began when he left his Waimate North home early on March 16 last year.
He said he had a weird cough, which he has since learned was a nerve reaction that comes from a person’s heart to increase blood flow into their lungs.
“I got to Whangārei and was feeling like s***, so decided to turn around just south of town and head to Whangārei Hospital.
“They lay me on a bed pretty quickly and told me I was having a heart attack.”
Brown said he couldn’t appreciate the intensity of what was going on.
The staff made him comfortable but also broke the news to him that no cardiac specialists were working that weekend. He needed to be flown to Auckland.
Mitchell Brown spent his first night in hospital in 60 years after a coronary emergency saw him airlifted by the rescue helicopter.
Northern Rescue’s Whangārei-based helicopters were busy on other jobs, so one was flown up from Auckland, with a doctor and critical care paramedic on board.
Brown was flown to Auckland City Hospital for urgent care. It was his first night in hospital in almost 60 years.
The next day, he received a stent in his right coronary artery and was sent home two days later.
“There was a kink in my hose is how I describe it in firefighting terms, and the cardiac team straightened it out,” he said.
He is one of more than 30,000 people to have used the service. In more than 37 years of operation, Northland Emergency Services Trust, which runs Northland Rescue Helicopters, has saved thousands of lives.
“Like everything, these things cost more and more each year, and we rely on the generosity of our community to keep our choppers in the air, providing first-class medical care in their times of greatest need.”
Last year, the appeal raised $46,350 for Northland’s rescue choppers. To donate this year, visit chopperappeal.co.nz.
