Woman had ‘20% chance of survival' after waking up unable to walk or recognize her family
A backpacker was told she had a '20 percent chance of survival' after she woke up unable to walk or recognize her loved ones after contracting a serious viral infection.
While her friends were beginning their careers or heading to university for further study, Chelsea, from Bath in the UK, decided to go backpacking in Southeast Asia after completing her degree in 2014 in what she hoped would be an unforgettable gap year.
Chelsea, then 21, initially went by herself to Thailand and began volunteering, teaching Thai kids English.
She volunteered in a tribal village and the experience was everything the Brit hoped for.
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But towards the conclusion of the volunteering opportunity, Chelsea began to feel unwell, symptoms which only spiralled after her mom joined her in a planned meet-up.
Chelsea, now 33, told UNILAD: "Initially, the symptoms felt very flu-like — my whole body was aching, I had a severe headache, extreme fatigue, and generally felt unwell.
"I went to a local pharmacist who prescribed me some tablets, and for a short time they actually seemed to help. I felt a bit better over the following week. But after meeting my mom for a two-week holiday in Krabi, my symptoms became much worse."
Chelsea went on to experience 'overwhelming tiredness and increasingly severe headaches', before going into cardiac arrest in hospital after she was found unconscious by her mom in Krabi.
Doctors began treating the backpacker for Japanese encephalitis (JE), which is 'transmitted by mosquitoes [who] bites mainly during the night or just after sunset' in the likes of India, China and Southeast Asia, according to Encephalitis International.
The Brit's condition rapidly deteriorated to the point where she was placed into a medically induced coma.
Chelsea was flown via private jet to a hospital in the Thai capital of Bangkok, with her mother being told by doctors to prepare for the worse.
"I was later told that I’d been given around a 20% chance of surviving, and even if I did survive, doctors believed it was highly likely I would have some degree of brain damage," Chelsea recalled.
When Chelsea woke up, she couldn't walk or stand and didn't even recognize some members of her family, including her brother.
"Recovery was a long process," Chelsea added. "When I first woke up, things felt incredibly confusing and unfamiliar, and I had to begin neuro rehabilitation in hospital to relearn basic things, including how to walk properly again."
She continued: "Once I returned to the UK, recovery was still very slow. I took around 18 months away from both work and university to focus on recovering. Because of the seizures, I also wasn’t allowed to drive for a year, which had a huge impact on my independence and day-to-day life."
However, Chelsea has since gone on to complete a masters in Neuropsychology after her memory and physical health improved over time.
Nonetheless, she does still have to deal with the effects of the health scare to this day.
She continued: "I struggle quite a lot with fatigue, headaches, and sometimes slight memory problems, especially when I’m stressed or under pressure.
"Although I’ve made a huge recovery, there are still lasting effects that I notice in day-to-day life, and it’s something I continue to manage even now."
The whole experience has changed the way in which Chelsea travels, as she now makes herself aware of vaccinations before she visits new countries.
Callum Jones