Family gives back
Parents offers up a prime stud heifer to thank the service that helped save their daughter’s life
WITHOUT the help of LifeFlight, Glenn and Fran Holt’s daughter might not be alive.
In January 2016 the Holt’s daughter Kristina, a fit and healthy 21-year-old, collapsed unconscious after a sudden and severe haemorrhagic brain stem stroke. It was just one week before she was to start work as a paramedic.
She was airlifted by LifeFlight from the Sunshine Coast to Brisbane.
“She was in ICU and in and out of consciousness for nine days,” Mr Holt said.
“So we had nine days of not knowing whether she was going to make it or not.”
Kristina is still in recovery, but the Holt’s would like to give back to LifeFlight for their amazing work.
Next month, the Holt’s will donate a heifer from their santa gertrudis stud, Santalands, for auction at the Big S Santa sale.
All proceeds from the sale of the heifer will go to LifeFlight.
“Tina’s stroke was very severe and recovery is slow but has been significant,” Mr Holt said.
“For a long time she was unable to eat, speak, talk or walk and she had seven months in three different hospitals.
“She has been doing outpatient rehab since then and now two and a half years later she can finally do most things but is still in the recovery process.
“We believe that Lifeflight could well have saved her life.
“We wanted to give something back to the organisation in the form of a donation.”
The heifer is Santalands Paula P17 who is due to calve in September to poll sire Denngal Lawyer. She will sell as Lot 1 at the sale.
“We hope that she sells well for the cause, for the benefit of LifeFlight,” Mr Holt said.
“We are very appreciative of the work and service of the LifeFlight organisation and feel that this is a chance to show them some gratitude for the remarkable job that they do.
“They save lives everyday and their value cannot be measured.”
Kristina had just graduated as a paramedic from QUT and was about to start work full-time in at Caloundra Ambulance Station.
“She had a stroke the week before she was about to commence,” Mr Holt said.
“It was totally unexpected. She was extremely fit and well.
“It’s been a life-changing experience.”
Mr Holt said there were no warning signs previous to her stroke.
“Tina was very lucky she was with her best friend who was also a paramedic,” he said
“She was with her at the time Tina collapsed and she knew what was happening and recognised the symptoms of what was going on.
“She was instrumental at getting the paramedics there quickly.”
Mr Holt said the events have been a massive experience in the value of people in the medical business. He said Kristina’s knowledge and interest in the medical industry has helped with her recovery.
“She’s very interested in it and part of her reason for improvement and recovery is she understands what’s happening,” he said.
“She had treated people with stroke as a paramedic, but never anyone so young.
“As everybody knows, life is very precious and you need to value every day, because you never know what can happen, and when you might need to call on services like LifeFlight to help you or someone you love.”
Amy Luhrs is the fundraising co-ordinator for LifeFlight in southwest Queensland and will be attending the auction on the day.
She said LifeFlight relies on community donations.
“About a third of our funding comes from community donations, so without any kind of community donations there’s no way we’d be able to continue saving lives,” she said.
“In southwest Queensland things like cattle auctions do raise us a substantial amount of money, but it’s still never enough.
“In 2017, in southwest Queensland, we actually flew 606 missions and that cost us $6 million.
“It’s a lot of money and it’s always a short fall. So whatever people can donate is always important.
“It’s a minimum of $12,500 per flight.
“And that’s just the minimum some of our rescues can be over $20,000.”