Novel use for air combat aircraft.

[corsair67]

I saw a report on the news last night about the possible use of an F-111 to ferry donated organs to a 17-year old patient in Perth who is in serious need of a heart and lung transplant.

The hospital have been trying to source the organs within WA but so far without success, so they are hoping that if they can find the compatible organs somewhere in Eastern Australia they can get them across the country in a combat aircraft in the shortest possible time.

I haven't found anything about this news in print yet, but I'll keep looking.

[planeimages]

What you might call a "heart attack".

[FlyNavy]

Saw Sydney TV reports also suggesting that any RAAF fast jet could be used flying from anywhere. These TV news report was very vague about the aircraft issues.

[corsair67]

Phil, I was wondering how the F-111 navigator would feel holding onto an esky with a heart and two lungs in it?

Or would they just strap it in a container under the wing?

[Dave Homewood]

I remember years ago in the first episode of the Australian remake of the Mission Impossible series an RAAF F-111 was used to carry the self-destruction tape inside a little hatch. Maybe they'll put the bits in there?

[corsair67]

Found a piece in The Australian. I thought the comment at the end is interesting - seems to be a bit differrent from what the family and doctors are expecting.



RAAF on call for heart-lung transplant girl
By Louise Pemble
February 11, 2007.


THE RAAF is on alert to come to the aid of a WA teenager fighting for her life in Royal Perth Hospital.

Aimee Blakiston, 17, needs a heart-lung transplant to survive her rare disorder, known as primary pulmonary hypertension - but time is running out.

After a two-week wait in intensive care without finding a suitable donor, doctors hope that widening the search to the rest of Australia will improve Aimee's chances of survival.

Calling on the RAAF would reduce the time it takes to get donor organs to Perth from anywhere in Australia.

WA Health Minister Jim McGinty took up Aimee's cause, making an impassioned plea to Federal Defence Minister Brendan Nelson to allow the RAAF to use its jets to make a mercy dash once a donor is found.

Mr McGinty said flight time was crucial, as organs could only survive outside of the body for five to six hours, which was the approximate flying time from Sydney to Perth on commercial flights.

"I have been advised that an F-111 or similar military jet could be scrambled at short notice once suitable organs became available and could make the trip from east to west in much less time than a commercial jet," he said.

"This would then make it viable to send a heart and lungs to Perth from the east coast."

Despite the cost, Dr Nelson agreed to the request.

"I've advised the Chief of the Defence Force (Angus Huston) to have an RAAF aircraft on standby to fly over to the West," he said. "My prayers and thoughts are with the young woman and her family."

Aimee's father Ian, talking from her bedside yesterday, said it had been distressing to see his daughter's condition deteriorate rapidly - followed by the excruciating wait for a donor.

Completely bed-bound, she is attached to a machine to oxygenate her blood, which is keeping her alive until a donor is found.

It means that Aimee, once an active basketballer and horse rider, must lie on her back, unable to move her leg because of a tube in her femoral artery. Several units of blood are pumped into her each day.

Despite her pain, Aimiee had amazed staff with her non-complaining attitude, Mr Blakiston said.

"She charms everyone, she's so positive," he said.

Yesterday, she joked to The Sunday Times: "I'm only here for the food."

Mr Blakiston, who runs a communications business at a Collie power station and has a 40ha farm outside Bunbury, has had to relocate his family to Perth to keep a bedside vigil at the hospital.

His wife, Michelle, and 10-year-old daughter, Lowana, are staying with their eldest daughter, Merinda, 19, who lives in Perth.

"It's been really tough, especially when you don't know how long the wait will be," he said.

Mr Blakiston said Aimee had been in hospital since mid-December, when her condition worsened. She had barely been able to complete her Year 12 studies at Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School because of constant tiredness.

Even though she attended school for only eight weeks, she scored a tertiary entrance score high enough to win a place at Notre Dame University to study a double major in law and human behavioural science.

Once recovered, Aimee said she hoped to become a public speaker, talking to young people about the importance of organ donation.

Head of Royal Perth Hospital's transplant unit Robert Larbalestier said Aimee's prognosis was excellent once she had undergone a successful heart-lung transplant, but this was her only chance of a cure.

A spokesman for Dr Nelson confirmed an RAAF VIP Challenger jet was on stand-by.