When Lisa Hart noticed her three year old daughter, Sophie, was avoiding using her left arm she asked if it was hurting her, Sophie said no. Later at the park Lisa noticed Sophie was unsteady on her feet and her arm had stiffened into a spastic position. Lisa made an appointment to see her GP first thing in the morning after which Sophie was rushed to St Luke’s Hospital in Launceston for an urgent brain scan.
The scan, undertaken at 5pm on 27 August 2007, revealed that Sophie had a brain tumour and it was likely she would need immediate surgery in Melbourne. By 9pm Sophie, her mother and father were at the Royal Flying Doctor Service Launceston Base awaiting an emergency RFDS flight to Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital.
“As you can imagine we were in a state of panic”, said Lisa. “Originally we were told that only one of us could go with Sophie, I was terrified something awful would happen and I wouldn’t cope on my own, I needed Paul, my husband with me. The hospital rang the RFDS and they said it was no problem for a seat to be added in the aircraft so we could both fit, I was so relieved.”
“RFDS pilot, Capt David Liddell and paramedic Mark Hevey from the Tasmanian Ambulance Service were just brilliant”, said Lisa. “I was trying not to cry in front of Sophie, I was just so scared for her and David was so compassionate and comforting. He told me to take my time, to cry if I needed to and didn’t rush us onto the plane before we were ready. During the dash to get to the airport I had forgotten to bring something warm for the flight, Mark organised a blanket and David turned up the heating to make me more comfortable. They were so reassuring, they kept telling us that Sophie was going to be ok, Mark told us he was just her babysitting her for a few hours.”
When they arrived in Melbourne Sophie underwent further testing. After consultation, the surgical team concluded they were 99% certain that Sophie’s tumour was benign and surgery to remove it would be too dangerous. Sophie was prescribed chemotherapy, in hope that it will shrink and possibly kill the tumour.
“Sophie has reacted very well to her first chemo session”, says Lisa. “She is already gaining movement back in her arm and fingers so the outlook is positive.”
The plan is, with physiotherapy Sophie will regain most of her function that was lost in her arm and leg and once her 12 months chemotherapy has finished she will live a normal happy life under the constant supervision of specialists.
Lisa hopes that they won’t need the Flying Doctor again but if they did she would be confident they were in the very best hands.
She said, “They did everything in their power to make the whole experience easier for us, our flight back to Launceston on a commercial flight was not at all up to RFDS standards. David and Mark gave us 110%. They really made a difference and we can not thank them enough.”