Man reveals dramatic race against time to receive life-saving surgery
An Adelaide man has revealed how he was given just three hours to get to Melbourne for a double-lung transplant to save his life.
Cystic fibrosis sufferer Jamie Brighton’s call came at 1am in November 2017. Lungs were found, which were a perfect match, but they were at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.
The Golden Grove resident said he was “pretty petrified”. He was told he needed to be in Melbourne by 4am.
“I was like, ‘my god you’re not giving me much time’ sort of thing,” Mr Brighton said.
“So, I said: ‘How do I get there?’ And she said I need to get to the Royal Flying Doctors.”
With his bag packed, Mr Brighton raced as fast as he could to get a flight to Melbourne.
But the shocking weather almost left him stranded. At one stage doctors didn’t think he was going to make it to the hospital in time.
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Luckily, he was able to get his lungs and after a five-hour operation his lung capacity was increased from 18 per cent to 95 per cent.
This week marks six-months since his life-saving surgery.
He’ll fly to Melbourne on Wednesday – via Jetstar this time – for his six-month check-up.
