Simon didn’t realise how sick he was until he heard the rescue helicopter was on its way.
“Before I knew it, I was at Christchurch Hospital. Apparently if I hadn’t gone to the doctor that day, I might not have woken up the next,” Simon Binnie says.
Simon is the operations manager for a large potato company, based in Ashburton. But it was potting flowers for his then primary aged daughter that sparked his life-threatening illness.
“I just started to feel really off colour. I rung the doctor but there was a bad flu going around so we just put it down to that.
“But a couple of weeks later I just wasn’t getting better. I couldn’t do anything – was completely exhausted. So, I went back to the doctor and told them I was really crook.”
The doctor sent Simon straight to Ashburton Hospital. On the way to the hospital, he drove up the back of another car.
“I think I was hallucinating – my fever was so high it was like I couldn’t measure distances,” Simon says.
It didn’t take long for Ashburton Hospital to realise just how sick Simon was and call the Westpac Rescue Helicopter.
“As soon as the helicopter paramedics walked in well, they just knew exactly what they were doing. They had brought with them a lung specialist from Christchurch and together they just bundled me up and flew me to Christchurch Hospital, where I was wheeled straight into ICU.”
Simon was suffering from Legionnaires disease – a type of pneumonia caused by legionella bacteria, commonly found in potting mix.
“I was told both my lungs were just totally white with infection. My breathing was at about 20%.”
Simon spent 10 days in Christchurch Hospital before returning home to Ashburton.
“The Westpac Rescue Helicopter folk – they were absolutely fantastic, just so professional. We donate to the rescue helicopter every year now, as a way of saying thanks for what they did for us, and what they do for our community.”
