A life-saving flight never forgotten
The day Ryan was rushed to Christchurch Hospital by the NZ Flying Doctor Service will be forever etched in his mum’s memory.
The day Ryan was rushed to Christchurch Hospital by the NZ Flying Doctor Service will be forever etched in his mum’s memory.
“I still get emotional thinking about it,” says mum Sheryn Cashman.
It was 12 years ago. Ryan was an active 13-year-old studying at Waimea College in Nelson. Then he got sick. It started with a temperature, headache and nausea, followed by a stinging pain in his side and a sore shoulder.
The cause was a 12cm abscess on Ryan’s liver caused by a rare streptococcus milleri infection. His liver had enlarged so much it had forced his diaphragm against his shoulder.
Ryan was going downhill, fast. He needed to get to Christchurch Hospital to see a liver specialist as soon as possible.
Ryan and his mum boarded a NZ Flying Doctor Service plane in Nelson. A nurse and doctor were onboard.
“I didn’t know it at the time, but they didn’t think Ryan would survive the flight. The NZ Flying Doctor Service team did such a great job keeping me calm,” Sheryn says.
When he arrived at Christchurch Hospital, Ryan was rushed into surgery to drain the abscess and was then admitted to the Intensive Care Unit.
After a week in Christchurch Hospital, Ryan returned to Nelson only to find three days later he would need a rare second drainage procedure. Ryan and Sheryn were on the NZ Flying Doctor Service plane again.
Ryan doesn’t remember his first NZ Flying Doctor Service flight. He remembers a little about the second one. Sheryn remembers both.
“I was made to feel important and included at a time when I had no idea what was actually happening. It was such an awful time – I wouldn’t wish it on anyone – but we are so grateful the NZ Flying Doctor Service could get us to the specialist support Ryan so urgently required.”
Sheryn is also grateful to Rānui House, which provided her with a “home away from home” while Ryan was in Christchurch Hospital.
“I turned up to Rānui with basically nothing but the clothes on my back. They took me in, gave me a wonderful place to stay right next to the hospital, and looked after me so I could be by Ryan’s side. The team there was incredible.”
Today, Ryan is 26 and Sheryn says he’s living his “best life” in Australia.
“The NZ Flying Doctor Service is one of many that I am forever thankful for. Without you, my son would not be here today and his siblings would not have their brother. We just never know how life can change in a heartbeat and it’s services like yours that make the difference.”
