Stories
March 11, 2026
A Northland first responder is praising the efforts of an Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter crew for potentially saving the life of his brother – after first saving his!
Ironically, it took around 60 years for Mitchell Brown to spend his first night in hospital but he reckons the sleep over was worth the wait.
Mitchell was feeling off colour shortly after hitting the road from his Waimate North home on the morning of March 16, 2025 – bound for Whangārei then Auckland.
“I left home at 5.50am and had this weird cough which I since learnt was a nerve reaction that comes from your heart to increase blood flow into your lungs,” says Mitchell.
“I got to Whangārei and was feeling like shit so decided to turn around just south of town and head to Whangārei Base Hospital. There was only one other person in the Emergency Department.
“They lay me on a bed pretty quickly and told me I was having a heart attack. I could not appreciate the intensity of what was going on. They got me under control, made me comfortable and then told me I had struck it right coming in on the weekend because there weren’t cardiac specialists working, so I would need to be flown to Auckland.”
Northern Rescue’s Whangārei-based helicopters were busy on other jobs, so one was flown up from Ardmore – with a doctor and critical care paramedic on board – to transport Mitchell back to Auckland City Hospital for urgent care.
A day later, on St Patrick’s Day, Mitchell received a 32ml by 5ml stent in his right coronary artery. He was sent home two days later and has been good as gold since.
“There was a kink in my hose is how I describe it in firefighting terms and the cardiac team straightened it out,” he says.
Not only did the flight potentially save Mitchell’s life, but it was also the catalyst for saving his brother who decided to have a heart health check …… just in case.
“He saw a specialist privately and discovered he needed two stents, so a couple of hours later he was as good as new.”
And it was all thanks to Mitchell’s flight, the care he received from the Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter crew and subsequent procedure that spurred his brother into action.
Mitchell was quickly back to work in his role as Northland’s Community Risk Manager for Fire and Emergency NZ and is now in his 43rd year with FENZ. He has also spent decades serving Rotary and giving back to the community in a different way.
And he plans to say a special thank you to the Northern Rescue Auckland crew around the one-year anniversary of his flight, by donating a photo he took of an Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust BK117 being flown by Armin Egli way back in 1992!
“It’s a moment in time of Northern Rescue’s history that was captured and deserves to be shared. As fellow first responders, our crews and I work closely with Northern Rescue and we have the utmost respect for the care and professionalism they show in being here for the community 24/7.
“I never thought I’d be on the receiving end of a lifesaving flight but I’m glad I was. I can’t thank the team enough.”
