It’s a situation many of us don’t think will ever happen to us.
Having a serious medical emergency, where seconds can make a difference.
It’s a situation that Sharlene Mackinnon was in just under four months ago.
“I got to work and I wasn’t really feeling well and I forgot how to make a pot of coffee that I would normally make every morning,” says Mackinnon. “Then at about 10:30 that morning I collapsed.”
After having numbness, headaches and forgetting things for a few days, Sharlene fell seriously ill at work on October 30.
“I lost feeling in my arms, legs, mainly paralyzed, couldn’t talk, so I was fully aware at the time and I thought I was having a stroke.”
Sharlene had too be transported to Foothills Hospital in Calgary as fast as possible.
“Medics from the base came first, and they were on scene first, until Medicine Hat paramedics got there, they thought I was having a stroke too so they called for HALO.”
Thankfully, HALO Rescue helicopter got her there in just 75 minutes.
“I was scared, I was really scared and the paramedics were great.”
Sharlene was actually the first ever EMS mission using HALO’s new twin-engine helicopter.
The trip to Calgary wasn’t possible in the old aircraft.
Stephen Harmer, Sharlene’s pilot and chief pilot for HALO ,says the helicopter is an amazing upgrade.
“We realized that was going to be an enhancement of the program,” says Harmer. “I don’t think we realized how much of an enhancement that was going to be.”
When Sharlene arrived at Foothills Hospital, doctors realized she didn’t have a stroke, they believe she had a virus in her central nervous system.
Although the news was a relief, she still had months of rehabilitation ahead of her.
“I had to learn how to walk and talk again.”
Her family stuck by her side through the entire ordeal, helping her with home exercise and pushing her to her limits.
“It was short and sharp and we really just bonded as a family and got on with it,” says Alex Mackinnon, Sharlene’s husband.
Sharlene is now about 95 per cent recovered, with great mobility and clear speech.
As a result, a couple of weeks ago she decided to reach out to HALO.
“HALO puts posts on Facebook when they’re picking up patients and they had posted mine and I saw it and I sent them a message and said ‘thank you, I was the patient and I appreciate what you did,’” says Sharlene. “I got another message back saying when you’re up and ready please come by the hanger and visit us.”
Joined by her husband Alec and her grandson Houston, she got to meet the pilots that were there in her most vulnerable time.
“Just over a week ago Sharlene came to see us with her family and we had a very emotional, not just Sharlene, I had a tear in my eye as well,” says Harmer. “We found out the second half of the story as it were.”
After going through such a terrifying experience, the Mackinnon family is trying to spread awareness on how much good HALO really does.
“They do a great job down there, they really do,” says Sharlene. “They deserve more recognition.”
“For all family members who are caught up in something far more serious who are unable to come back and say thank you,” says Alex. “I just want to say thank you on their behalf.”
They even have a ‘HALO donation Box’ on their kitchen counter, to put spare change in whenever they can.
“We will continue to fundraise for HALO,” says Alex. “I just gave my son some money for a Timmies run before work, he put it straight in the HALO box.”
For now, Sharlene is still working on her recovery, and HALO is still heading out on rescue missions. Hoping to create more outcomes like hers.
