Three flights, two babies, one incredible service

Blackball mum Billie Moore was already a fan of the NZ Flying Doctor Service.  Her mum and dad have both been on board – her mum when she broke her back and her dad after a heart attack.

What Billie didn’t know is that she would have to overcome her own fear of flying to use the service not once or twice, but three times.

Her first flight was in June 2024. She was 31 weeks and five days pregnant with her son, Ridge, when her waters broke in the middle of the night. She went straight to Greymouth Hospital, but the team there knew she needed to get to Christchurch.

“I wasn’t in labour, thankfully, but that didn’t make things easy. I’ve never been a good flyer. In fact, I tried to argue that I could just drive myself to Christchurch, but the doctors quickly shut that idea down in case I went into labour on the way.”

A flight midwife boarded a NZ Flying Doctor Service plane in Christchurch and flew to Greymouth to pick Billie up.

“Imagine trying to put an angry cat into a cat box – I was a bit like that,” Billie laughs. “They had to give me an anxiety pill to get me on the plane! But I closed my eyes and, before I knew it, we were flying over the Canterbury Plains.”

A week later, Ridge was born at 32 weeks and four days. He spent close to five weeks in Christchurch Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit before the family returned home.

A year later, it was little sister Saige’s turn to fly.

“We knew Saige was going to come early so from about 33 weeks I was in Christchurch staying at Ronald McDonald House.”

Saige was born at 36 weeks and spent two weeks in Christchurch Hospital before boarding a NZ Flying Doctor flight to Greymouth to continue feeding and growing closer to home.

Billie’s partner and the crew reassured her it was a beautiful day on both sides of the Alps and that she’d enjoy the flight. They were right.

“It was honestly one of the most beautiful flights I’ve ever been on. The views were breathtaking and, as we were flying over the ocean before landing in Greymouth, I found myself crying. It was such a happy occasion. We were flying for the best possible reason – we were bringing our baby girl home.”

But just one week later, everything changed.

Ridge came down with what seemed like a simple cold but, after one very unsettled night, Billie knew something wasn’t right. She took him to A&E; his oxygen levels were a little low.

Things then deteriorated incredibly quickly. By midday he was on oxygen and the Greymouth Hospital team were arranging the NZ Flying Doctor Service to transport him to Christchurch.

By late afternoon, Ridge had to be intubated – meaning a tube was inserted into his airway to help him breathe.

“It took hours for the team to stabilise him enough to travel, and we didn’t leave until that evening.”

Billie says that was the hardest flight of them all.

“It wasn’t the flying that made it hard – I was so scared for my son. All I cared about was my little boy lying there while the doctor and nurse tended to him for the entire flight.

“I managed to hold myself together, but inside I was terrified.”

Ridge spent almost a week in the Intensive Care Unit at Christchurch Hospital. The diagnosis was bronchiolitis, although doctors still don’t know why it became so severe, so quickly.

Today, Ridge is a healthy, rambunctious two-year-old. Billie says he’s recently discovered tantrums, a milestone she’d been dreading, but she says thankfully they’re usually over as quickly as they begin.

As Billie looks back over the past two years, she’s so thankful the NZ Flying Doctor Service was there.

“When your child is critically ill, or when you need specialist care that isn’t available locally, those flights are so much more than transportation. They are a lifeline.”

Billie never expected after watching her mum and dad use the service that she would need it three times in two years.

“I can’t thank the NZ Flying Doctor Service enough for getting us where we needed to be, when we needed it, and doing it with such professionalism, compassion, and reassurance. The NZ Flying Doctor service is truly amazing – we couldn’t be without it.”

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