How I survived my Rainforest hell
Last updated 13:35, Thursday, 21 August 2008
A BACKPACKING adventure quickly descended into a life-threatening drama for a Furness teenager.
Chloe Beauman aold reporter JO DAVIES how she found refuge in the Panamanian rainforest and gow she will forever be indebted to her saviours.
IT’S the phone call every parent dreads. Estelle Beauman was woken abruptly at 5am to hear her daughter was seriously ill on the other side of the world.
Within three hours Estelle was on the road, but nothing could have prepared her for what lay ahead.
“We knew there was a problem, but we thought it was sunstroke,” explained Estelle, of Abbey Road, Barrow.
“At 5am the situation became really severe and they had to transfer her from Bocas del Toro to a “specialist hospital” in Changuinola, 10-and-a-half hours from Panama City, in the middle of the rainforest.”
Chloe, who was diagnosed with diabetes aged 11, had controlled her insulin dependency while travelling Central America with her sister Sophie, 21, and two friends.
Her medication was disrupted when she suffered sunstroke on the archipelago of Bocas del Toro.
“My legs were all burnt so I didn’t take my insulin that night,” said Chloe.
“I was going to sort it out the next day but I started throwing up at 5am from the sunstroke.
“I couldn’t keep anything down and Sophie thought I didn’t look well so she got me to hospital in a water taxi.
“I was in and out of consciousness.
“My breathing was short but then I got stomach ache and a huge headache. My breathing got worse and I couldn’t get any air.”
Chloe was suffering the first symptoms of the potentially fatal ketoacidosis, a rare chemical imbalance caused by a lack of insulin.
While doctors battled to regulate her blood sugar Estelle and her father Jack Charnley battled through red tape to get to the remote hospital.
“We set off on Thursday at 8am and got there on Saturday afternoon,” said Estelle.
“It took five flights and four-and-a-half hours on a chicken bus to get there.
“My husband Dave got onto the British Embassy and was relaying messages to me from home.
“My dad was a star. He came with just 10 minutes spare to pack a bag.”
They eventually arrived to find Chloe in a stark hospital ward attached to drips monitoring her blood and pH balance.
“We stood in the corridor and there was water pouring through the ceiling,” said Estelle.
“Because the corridors flood, all the wards are built up a ramp so they have to manoeuvre all the equipment up the ramp otherwise they do without.
“They’re just trying to survive.
“The people who live there are very poor,” she explained.
“They live in huts on stilts with no sanitation or electricity.
“What they live in you wouldn’t put garden tools in.
“They have big families with 12 children and four will die as soon as mum finishes breast feeding.
“Then you look at everything we’ve got and it seems a bit obscene.”
In arguably Third World conditions Chloe’s treatment was first class. The family can’t speak too highly of the medical staff who saved Chloe’s life.
“The nurses and doctors were absolutely brilliant,” said Chloe. “There are three doctors in the hospital in total.
“One was on holiday, the other’s mum had died and I saw all three. They all came in to see me.”
Estelle added: “One didn’t leave Chloe’s side for three days and nights.
“And Sophie has been a star. She never left her side and ate dry cereal for three days.”
The disparity between the two cultures hit home when it came to settling the medical bill.
“I’d left home with some money I had in the house and my credit cards,” said Estelle.
“I thought: ‘How am I going to pay this bill?’
“They itemised everything and it came to 130 dollars.
“I asked if that was 130,000 and it was $130 – £65, for six nights in intensive care. Chloe’s antibiotics cost 20 cents – 10p.
“You just can’t comprehend that they haven’t any money.
“I tried to give them some extra money but they wouldn’t take it because it meant the till wouldn’t balance.”
Determined to show their gratitude Estelle approached the pharmacist, the only person who could speak English, to find out how they could help. “We were asked to look round the paediatric ward which is where we will be concentrating our resources as the conditions are so very basic,” she explained.
“There are no toys, no cheery wall coverings, just cots with a chair for mum to sleep in.
“It is shocking that we have so much and they have so little. The staff were so dedicated, with very limited resources. We can’t ever repay them.”
The family is indebted to Changuinola Regional Hospital and plan to host a number of fund-raising events for the paediatric ward.
The first, a charity ball, will take place on Friday October 10 at Hawcoat Park Sports and Social Club, in Hawcoat Lane, Barrow.
The event will start with a race night before Denis Horan performs his rendition of Rat Pack songs.
Tickets, £20, are available from Estelle’s business, Halo Hair and Beauty in Buccleuch Street, Barrow. Chloe is still recuperating from the ordeal but hopes to return to Kendal College in September to continue her studies.
And, despite her mum’s misgivings, she’s determined to travel round Australia next year.
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