Mutarnee man Bevan Gosling braves flood disaster to access dialysis treatment

A man has braved flood waters, snakes and a severed highway in order to make it to Townsville hospital.

Bevan Gosling was shocked to find Ollera Creek Bridge cut in half from flood water on the Bruce Highway north of Townsville.

A North Queensland man had to brave roaring flood waters, a severed highway and a railway line covered in snakes to receive his lifesaving treatment in Townsville.

As rain began to hammer down on Bevan Gosling’s Mutarnee home, he was left questioning how he would access his dialysis appointment at Townsville Hospital and Health service.

Arriving at Ollera Creek on the Bruce Highway, just before the Paluma turn off, Mr Gosling was shocked to see the road completely torn in half by raging flood waters.

Fortunately for him, the nearby rail line was holding steady.

“The bridge was all blown out and I had to come across the railway bridge,” Mr Gosling said.

“It was a drizzling a little but I had to watch for all the snakes, there’s plenty of them, about

five of them on the track as I was coming across.”

Bevan Gosling and clinical nursing consultant Brett Carruthers at Townsville Hospital and Health Service

“All I was thinking was, I had to get here because I could hardly breathe because of too

much fluid in my body.”

Nervously waiting on the other side were paramedics watching on as Mr Gosling made the treacherous trip across.

“It was a bit scary, because if you fall off the bridge, you’re gone,” he said.

“The water was roaring.”

“I could hardly breathe when I got across and they put me on the oxygen straight away.”

“They were just happy I got across and didn’t trip and fall.”

Mr Gosling was one of six Ingham patients repatriated from Ingham thanks to the efforts from ADF, QAS and Retrieval Services Queensland during the flood disaster.

Renal staff specialist Dr Michelle Harfield said she was ‘hugely relieved’ to see the patients arrive safely.

“Because they have a lifelong condition, we see them regularly and they are like family,” she said.

“It has been a huge co-ordination effort from the renal nursing staff and all the satellite units involved to get our patients here.”

Originally published as Mutarnee man Bevan Gosling braves flood disaster to access dialysis treatment