When Associate Professor Andrew Kornberg, senior neurologist at The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH), takes off from Melbourne this July, he’ll be flying solo—literally and figuratively.
At the controls of a small-engine aircraft, he’ll navigate 27,000 kilometres of wide-open Australian skies, facing unpredictable weather, exhausting hours and total isolation. But for Kornberg, the gruelling elements of this journey are a small price to pay. “It’s nothing compared to what our families go through every day.” This year’s solo flight is part of a campaign to raise $4.5 million for a dedicated space at RCH to deliver life-changing advanced therapies to children with some of the rarest and most complex conditions in the country.
The heart behind the flight
To understand why a doctor would swap scrubs for a pilot headset, you need to understand the urgency behind his mission. And that Kornberg’s commitment to his patients goes beyond medicine. “If you met some of my families, they’d say I’m like their uncle,” he says. “I treat them all like my children.” A passionate pilot and tireless advocate, he’s been caring for children with complex neurological conditions for decades.
In 2017, he took to the skies for the first time to raise funds for a deep brain stimulation program—inspired by a teenage girl whose condition had pushed her to the brink. “She told her mum she felt broken and didn’t want to live,” recalls Kornberg. “That moment pushed me to act. I knew we had to bring this treatment to Australia.” He raised the funds, built the program and helped bring life-changing procedures to Australian soil. That patient? She got out of her wheelchair, walked across the room and gave him a hug.