WA: RAAF poised to help WA girl

AAP General News (Australia)
02-11-2007
WA: RAAF poised to help WA girl

Australia's air force is poised to fly to the aid of a teenage West Australian girl
.. who urgently needs a life-saving heart-lung transplant.

17-year-old AIMEE BLAKISTON is in Royal Perth Hospital with primary pulmonary hypertension
.. and has just weeks to live unless she gets a transplant.

It's feared that if a nationwide search turns up donor organs in the eastern states
.. a commercial flight might not be able to fly them to Perth fast enough before they
begin to fail.

WA Health Minister JIM McGINTY's asked federal Defence Minister BRENDAN NELSON for
help .. and he's confirmed a military jet will be scrambled at short notice if required.

Mr McGINTY says the 17-year-old's a wonderful .. typical teenager .. who was a competitive
show rider and basket baller before falling ill and being misdiagnosed with chronic fatigue
syndrome.

AAP RTV lk/jmt

KEYWORD: BLAKISTON (PERTH)

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