COURAGE UNDER FIRE - Annette HOLIAN
The Australian Women's Weekly|June 2020
RAAF Group Captain Annette Holian has mended bones in the wake of the Boxing Day tsunami and come under fire from the Taliban. Sue Smethurst meets a trailblazing orthopaedic surgeon who has travelled to hell and back to save lives.
Sue Smethurst
COURAGE UNDER FIRE - Annette HOLIAN

The clock had ticked past 2 am when Dr Annette Holian finally emerged into the warm night air. The trauma surgeon had spent the previous hours hunched over in an operating theatre deep inside the multinational military base at Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan, saving the life of a Dutch soldier seriously injured after an improvised explosive device exploded under his vehicle.

Having successfully sent him to intensive care, she stepped outside the pressure cooker ER to catch her breath. While gathering her thoughts in the inky darkness, she noticed fireworks in the sky.

“I wondered what the celebration was,” Annette recalls. “Then I got my bearings and realised I was facing north, towards the Baluchi Pass, known as the valley of the shadow of death, where our troops patrolled against the Taliban. What I thought were fireworks were in fact Apache helicopter tracer fire, rockets and flares. In that split second I remembered I wasn’t in Australia any more, and I pretty quickly went back inside.”

RAAF Group Captain Annette Holian is one of Australia’s unsung heroes, an orthopaedic surgeon who is as at home in a war zone, saving the lives of wounded troops, as she is mending bones in Australia’s best hospitals. The revered doctor is one of Australia’s most distinguished women and yet, chances are you’ve never heard her name – until now.

“I just really like helping people,” she says humbly of her extraordinary career. “No one plans to be a trauma victim, but if you provide good care and follow up, you can get a patient back to being the best they can be, which is very satisfying. You can make a big difference to someone’s life.”

この記事は The Australian Women's Weekly の June 2020 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

この記事は The Australian Women's Weekly の June 2020 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S WEEKLYのその他の記事すべて表示
Hitting a nerve
The Australian Women's Weekly

Hitting a nerve

Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes - could aid physical and mental wellbeing.

time-read
5 分  |
July 2024
Take me to the river
The Australian Women's Weekly

Take me to the river

With a slew of new schedules and excursions to explore, the latest river cruises promise to give you experiences and sights you won’t see on the ocean.

time-read
4 分  |
July 2024
The last act
The Australian Women's Weekly

The last act

When family patriarch Tom Edwards passes away, his children must come together to build his coffin in four days, otherwise they will lose their inheritance. Can they put their sibling rivalry aside?

time-read
8 分  |
July 2024
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
The Australian Women's Weekly

MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN

When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.

time-read
8 分  |
July 2024
The wines and lines mums
The Australian Women's Weekly

The wines and lines mums

Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.

time-read
10 分  |
July 2024
Jenny Liddle-Bob.Lucy McDonald.Sasha Green - Why don't you know their names?
The Australian Women's Weekly

Jenny Liddle-Bob.Lucy McDonald.Sasha Green - Why don't you know their names?

Indigenous women are being murdered at frightening rates, their deaths often left uninvestigated and widely unreported. Here The Weekly meets families who are battling grief and desperate for solutions.

time-read
10+ 分  |
July 2024
Growing happiness
The Australian Women's Weekly

Growing happiness

Through drought flood and heartbreak, Jenny Jennr's sunflowers bloom with hope, sunshine and joy

time-read
8 分  |
July 2024
"Thank God we make each other laugh"
The Australian Women's Weekly

"Thank God we make each other laugh"

A shared sense of humour has seen Aussie comedy couple Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall conquer the world. But what does life look like when the cameras go down:

time-read
7 分  |
July 2024
Winter baking with apples and pears
The Australian Women's Weekly

Winter baking with apples and pears

Celebrate the season of Australian apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the midwinter blues away.

time-read
10+ 分  |
July 2024
Budget dinner winners
The Australian Women's Weekly

Budget dinner winners

Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of low-cost recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.

time-read
5 分  |
July 2024