Dr Caitlin Rutherford-Heard of Townsville Hospital to speak at RDAQ conference

A disabled girl who faced death during a prolonged childhood illness says her ordeal has proven to be her superpower as a rural Queensland doctor.

When Dr Caitlin Rutherford-Heard was born with a rare vascular disorder called Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrome (KTS), the obstetrician told her terrified mum that Caitlin could still grow up to be anything she wanted to be. It turned out that she wanted to be just like that doctor, but it would not be an easy path. Picture: Supplied

A disabled girl who faced death during a prolonged childhood illness says her ordeal has proven to be her superpower as a rural Queensland doctor.

Dr Caitlin Rutherford-Heard, a Queensland Rural Generalist Pathway Intern at Townsville University Hospital, was born with a rare vascular disorder.

“My journey to become a rural doctor started earlier than most; I spent a lot of my childhood in the hospital system,” she said on Tuesday.

“I was born with a large hemangioma to my left chest and severe progressive pectus excavatum, which means I have two centimetres between my sternum and my spine now.”

She said she had 24 surgeries by the time she was 24, including a mastectomy at 11 months and two cardiothoracic surgeries as a teenager, one of which caused a near fatal cardiac arrhythmia.

Dr Caitlin Rutherford-Heard had 24 surgeries by the time she was 24 including a mastectomy at 11 months of age and two cardiothoracic surgeries as a teenager – one causing a near fatal cardiac arrhythmia. Picture: Supplied

Dr Rutherford-Heard said that she was cared for by a number of incredible doctors.

“However, I’ve also had some very negative experiences, the types of things we learn not to do in medical school.”

Despite her early health challenges, Dr Caitlin Rutherford-Heard went on to study nursing and midwifery, then medicine, and is now currently a Queensland Rural Generalist Pathway Intern at Townsville University Hospital. Picture: Supplied

Despite the challenges she went on to study nursing and midwifery, then medicine before finding herself at TUH.

Her story will be featured at the Rural Doctors Association of Queensland conference in Brisbane this week.

Dr Rutherford-Heard said she always assumed she would be a city-based obstetrician and gynaecologist but that changed after training in a rural setting and attending her first RDAQ conference.

“Living through this has not been easy, but now, I believe my disability and my experiences are one of my superpowers as a doctor,” she said.

“Patients see my scars and see my compression garments and they seem to immediately open up to me more, I think it humanises our conversation.”

She said she believed it also allowed her to “have a level of empathy you cannot learn other than through lived experience”.

“Every day it acts as a reminder to listen to exactly what the patient is telling me.”

RDAQ President Dr Alex Dunn said it was stories like Caitlin’s that helped demonstrate what it meant to be a rural doctor in Queensland.

“We have all taken unique journeys as rural doctors and, like our 35-year history at RDAQ, there have often been ups and downs along the way.”

Originally published as Dr Caitlin Rutherford-Heard of Townsville Hospital to speak at RDAQ conference