LifeFlight Saved Finchy — Now He’s Saving Others

A near-fatal fall, a heartbreaking loss, and a powerful full-circle moment — how Chris Finch turned tragedy into purpose with LifeFlight

In the blink of an eye Chris Finch’s life flashed before him. One minute he was enjoying a hike on a stunning summer’s day with a few army mates with their dogs happily bounding alongside them. Then all hell broke loose.

Chris Finch now saving lives with the same aeromedical organisation that saved his life a decade ago

When his fluffy best mate ‘Bentley’ went too close to the edge and slipped, Finchy was able to grab him by the collar and haul him back to safety. But as he did he fell, tumbling 10 metres down the cliff before desperately clinging to a tree root which saved his life. “As I was falling, I was trying to grab onto rocks, tree roots and that sort of stuff and they were breaking away in my hands,” he says.

“I managed to grab hold of a large tree root about five metres short of a 100-metre cliff, which ultimately saved my life.The guys up the top were yelling out to see if I was okay and when I tried to get up, my brain was telling my leg to move but it wouldn’t, and I just fell over again.” Finchy badly severed his right patella tendon and realised he was in serious trouble.

There was no way he could make it back up the mountain on his own.  Then the unimaginable happened. Finchy looked up to see Bentley standing at the edge of the cliff looking down at him.”All of a sudden, he just jumped. I’m not sure why he did. I think he just wanted to be with me, but unfortunately, he passed away,” says Finchy, recalling the moment his best mate went over the edge.

After he was airlifted to Toowoomba Base Hospital, Finchy received the news that his loyal companion has passed away. “I remember lying in the hospital bed and my wife came and told me that Bentley had passed away. It was a very hard ordeal to get over,” he says.

LifeFlight pilot Dave Hampshire says the mountain rescue was made easier by the experienced army crewmen on the ground. “Due to their experience and qualifications, they set themselves up brilliantly on the ground. It was a lap around Table Top Mountain and then straight into the winch,” he says.

Chris Finch and a drawing of Bentley

In a serendipitous twist, the doctor on duty at the hospital that day just happened to be the wife of one of his mates on the hike. While Finchy knew he was in good hands, his wife Megan said her husband’s injuries were so severe, she was worried about how the family would cope. “Chris was in a bad way and we had a newborn baby and a toddler, so there were plenty of sleepless nights,” she says. “Fortunately, he recovered and I’m just so grateful that our family is happy and healthy and proud of Chris with his role at LifeFlight. He cares a lot about people and is an amazing father and human being.”

The Finch Family.

Now Finchy is saving lives with the same aeromedical organisation that saved his life a decade ago. He has started a new chapter with LifeFlight on the Sunshine Coast as an aircrew officer. And he has his amazing family and fluffy mate, chocolate lab ‘Blaze’, as his biggest supporters. “After it happened, I thought well this is the company to work for after the army, to give back what they did for me and help me get to the hospital,” he says. “It’s always been a long-term goal to work for LifeFlight. I used to watch the rescue helicopters go over our heads when we surfed as kids and thought how cool they were.

“Now here I am and it’s a bit of a sweet moment to work for the company that saved me all those years ago.”