Family auctions heifer with proceeds going to LifeFlight
LifeFlight flies diabetic son to Brisbane
SHANE and Helen Hatton’s son, Jake, is back playing rugby thanks to LifeFlight services.
In March this year, the 11-year-old was about to head off to camp when he fell ill suddenly and had to be picked up from Toowoomba Grammar School.
Mrs Hatton picked Jake up from school and took him back to their home in Wandoan.
Within two days Jake was in the Chinchilla Hospital before being airlifted by LifeFlight to Brisbane. Jake was later diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
His parents are donating a heifer from their santa gertrudis stud, Diamond H, to give back to the organisation that helped save their son’s life.
The heifer will be auctioned at their sale which will be held on their property Diamond Downs in Wandoan on September 10. All proceeds from the sale of the heifer will go to LifeFlight.
“We’ve always donated to them, but you don’t really realise until it actually happens how good they are,” Mr Hatton said.
“They told me how much it can cost. Up to $25,000. So I just want to give back a bit for what they’ve done for me.
“I hope she (the heifer) makes between $6000 and $10,000. She got a blue ribbon at Beef. She won her class. She’s a pretty good little heifer.”
The Hattons said Jake didn’t have any severe symptoms before he got sick.
“He was drinking a lot of
Jake Hatton represents the U12s for the Darling Downs in rugby league.
fluids and was very weak and had lost a lot of weight. Then he started vomiting and I thought ‘no, this isn’t normal’,” Mrs Hatton said.
“It was hard because he was living away from home. I thought maybe it was a bit of anxiety from boarding school.
“I was thinking ‘boarding school food can’t be that bad’.”
Mr Hatton said it was scary seeing his son so sick, especially when he didn’t know what was wrong.
“It wasn’t easy. He was in a bad way,” he said.
“They had to stabilise him first before the chopper turned up. I hadn’t even got to Dalby before he was in Brisbane. Helen went with him.”
Mrs Hatton said they were in the helicopter for about 45 minutes. If they had had to drive it would have taken them three and a half hours.
“They were fantastic. I had confidence with them the whole time,” she said.
“It was very comforting to know he was in good hands.
“They were so reassuring and professional.”
Jake was in the Paediatric Intensive Care unit overnight with diabetic ketoacidosis.
Mrs Hatton said Jake has had to deal with a lot of changes this year.
“It’s his first year of boarding school,” she said.
“He’s a had a baby brother born this year.
“He made the under-12s rugby league team for the Darling Downs.
“He’s been very resilient. He could have chucked the towel but we’re very proud of how he’s managing it all.”
Jake is now back at school and managing his diabetes.
“We ummed and ahhed about having him out of school for one term,” Mrs Hatton said.
“But he’s picked up everything really well and is managing it quite well so we thought we’d pop him back into boarding school.”
Mr Hatton said he’s not too worried about Jake being away as he has a Continuous Glucose Monitor, which Mr and Mrs Hatton can use to monitor his levels remotely via mobile phone.
“He doesn’t really like it but he’s got to have it at boarding school,” Mr Hatton said.
Jake has to inject himself with insulin every day.