Sarah Cochrane

Why We Walk: Bailey & Hunter’s Rescue Story 2025 Westpac Helicopter Byron Bay Walk

In 2021, with classrooms closed and “home school” across the dining room, my son Bailey and his mates including Hunter decided to squeeze in a quick motorbike ride before sunset. Minutes later my phone rang—one of the other kids, voice shaking: “They’ve crashed. Get here quick.”

By the time we reached the tight bush track, Bailey and Hunter were on the ground, they had a head on. Gemma (Hunter’s mum) dropped to her knees, phone to ear, relaying GPS pins, injuries, details, all while her quick thinking to organise us all and keep her husband (Rhys) updated as he was leaving work at Grafton Hospital, having to pull over on the road for an ambulance that he knew was coming for his son. Hunter lay across her lap with a clearly broken leg; Gemma calmed him between updates to triple‑zero. Bailey was across the track, motionless, blood on his face and struggling to keep his eyes open. I knelt beside him—“Stay with me, mate. What do you want for dinner when we get home?” Anything to secure him to this moment while Jay (my husband) sprinted back to the fire‑trail entrance to guide emergency crews.

The sun dipped. The first responders arrived on foot, one to each boy. While waiting the first responder saying: “He’ll be okay—he’s coming back.” All I could think was, where on earth did he just go?

The track was too narrow for an ambulance, so volunteers eased Hunter onto the back of a ute to the waiting Ambulance bound for Coffs Harbour Hospital.

In a paddock behind the houses the Westpac Rescue Helicopter waiting. Fuel was tight. The crew decided to winch Bailey out rather than risk a rough stretcher carry. Jay was told to wait in the paddock—maybe they’d have enough fuel to collect him after the hoist.

Strapped to a spine board, Bailey rose through the treetops into darkness. The helicopter stalled out over the ocean, circled once, then—joy—dropped back for Jay before refuelling in Lismore and flying on to Gold Coast University Hospital.

Bailey with a broken nose, fractured eye socket, cracked vertebra; months in a neck brace. Hunter with a broken leg, months in a full cast.

The next morning I made the road trip across closed boarders to be with Bailey and Jay, coming from NSW into QLD is another story. Bailey was having more tests done on his neck. One of the first things Bailey said to me as he started remembering things was “did you ask me what I wanted for dinner”?

Both boys are now back on their feet (back in the surf after taking a break after losing one of their own mates -Marni- prior to their accident) but none of us forget that afternoon – with no sleep for days, stress and tears have now turned into fun, laughter and best of friends.

The Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service never sends a bill to the people it saves. Every mission—fuel, winch cable, flight hours, medical kit—is paid for by community donations. Our family is lacing up for the 2025 Byron Bay Walk to keep that promise in the air for the next family who finds themselves on a lonely track at sundown.

How you can help

1. Sponsor our team. Even $10 covers a few precious seconds of hover time.

2. Share this story with the hashtag #ByronBayWalk so others understand exactly what their dollars do.

3. Join the walk. Sunrise over Cape Byron is even better when every step keeps a helicopter mission free.

In our little village, the thump of that yellow chopper drops every stomach—fear for whoever needs it, relief that it’s there. 

Thank you for reading, sharing, and supporting.

Because sometimes the quickest way home is straight up.

https://events.rescuehelicopter.com.au/fundraisers/sarahcochrane/byron-coast-charity-walk