Sarah Ward, a busy working mother, was not feeling great and had increasingly bad stomach pains, but kept putting off getting medical advice as she considered she had just overeaten rich food and needed a lie down and time to recover. She didn't want to use the limited health resources in her remote community, feeling they were needed for other people who were actually unwell -- but not realising she had a ruptured appendix and infection was spreading throughout her body. When this was discovered there was an emergency dash to get Sarah to Cairns for surgery and prevent her from losing her life.

There is a morale to this story for all mothers out there -- look after yourselves.  Don't put off getting medical advice when things aren't right. You can't look after those you love if you are unwell, or are not around anymore. :)

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Thanks so much for listening to the Flying Doctor Podcast. It is lovely to have you along on the journey with us.

There has been some wonderful feedback from listeners and those we have interviewed. Word of mouth is always the best promotion for a podcast – so if you enjoy this podcast, or a specific story, please share with family and friends.

Reviews and ratings help our podcast to be found by others, so if you can take the time to do that it would be appreciated.  You can also send feedback, questions or comments through to podcast@rfds.org.au. 

Please join the conversation at our Facebook Group called the Flying Doctor Podcast Community 

And if you haven’t already done so – catch up on our extensive back-series as there are some ripper yarns, incredibly brave and strong people, and many-a-story that are so typically Aussie in terms of resilience, innovation in times of crisis, and of course humour.