Bush Samaritan rejects hero tag | Gold Coast News | Local News in Gold Coast

Di Selby.

AN ELDERLY woman fighting for her life in the Gold Coast Hospital today owes a huge debt of gratitude to modest country heroes, Tony and Di Selby.

Mr and Mrs Selby were the Good Samaritans who on Wednesday spent two hours with the 69-year-old woman who had collapsed on the side of the Leichhardt Highway in an area inaccessible because of rising floodwaters.

Mr Selby discovered the woman, who is believed to have suffered a stroke, outside the entrance to the family’s Moonie district property about 1pm, about 70km north of Goondiwindi.

She was lying unconscious just metres from her car, which she had driven off the highway, apparently when trouble first struck.

Her dog, a maltese cross, had been left in the vehicle.

Mr Selby contacted his wife who immediately called triple-0 and arrived at the woman’s side moments later.

She said it was obvious the woman was in trouble.

“She was breathing and her pulse was good, but she was coming in and out of consciousness,” Mrs Selby said.

“But she only ever slightly regained consciousness.

“All I could do was make her comfortable and keep reassuring her help was on the way.”

Mrs Selby said instinct kicked in when she arrived at the scene.

“I didn’t think twice,” she said.

“It was no big deal, I just got out there and did it.”

During the two-hour ordeal, Mr and Mrs Selby were given directions by a Queensland Ambulance Service officer over a mobile phone.

With her husband leaving, Mrs Selby remained to close down the highway and help the RACQ CareFlight helicopter land.

“He (the QAS officer) was really good and the CareFlight team were just incredible,” she said.

During the two hours, nearby landholders arrived to offer help.

The vehicle and car were taken to a district property and collected by relatives yesterday.