Amanda Sesio, 23, is warning travellers not to make the same mistakes she made. Photo / Supplied
Amanda Sesio, 23, is warning travellers not to make the same mistakes she made. Photo / Supplied
A young Auckland woman who almost died after contracting a lung disease while travelling to the United States says the decision not to get travel insurance almost cost her her life.
Amanda Sesio is now warning people planning to travel not to make the same mistake she made; and whichhas resulted in her family looking at ways to pay back a medical bill of almost $230,000.
"It's a life-changing mistake ... I was kicking myself in hospital."
The 23-year-old, from West Auckland, said she and a few relatives booked flights to the US the week before they flew out on a whim; so they could represent their respective families at a cousin's wedding on July 2.
"It's one of those things - I wasn't thinking. Perhaps had I had the time [to prepare for the trip], maybe the circumstances would've been different and I could've got insurance.
Doctors told her they believe she caught it while travelling - possibly on the plane.
Sesio described a harrowing few days after arriving in Los Angeles on June 28, when she started to get symptoms for what she thought was a stomach bug made even worse from the jetlag.
She was sleeping for up to 12 hours since she had arrived and complained of a sore stomach.
Amanda Sesio was admitted to the intensive care unit at a hospital in the US days after flying in from Auckland. Photo / Supplied
But it would take for her needing to be physically held up by two people, to stand, and the advice of a friend's father - a doctor - back home in New Zealand that would make her finally make moves to find a local hospital.
Before that, she had been putting off going to hospital for as long as possible because she knew how costly the bill would be and the fact she did not have insurance, she said.
When all the doctors are running around - it's bad
"We just googled the closest hospital and got an Uber," she said - adding that at that point, she and her two cousins who accompanied her still did not think it was significant.
"As soon as we got to hospital, it was pretty much all go, go, go. When you have all the doctors and nurses running around, then you think: 'Oh, it is bad'."
She does not remember anything after the emergency department; having been put to sleep for several days in the intensive care unit.
"When I woke up, I still had tubes on me and was so [dazed] from so much medication.
Amanda Sesio, 23, is warning travellers not to make the same mistakes she made. Photo / Supplied
"They showed me X-rays of my lungs. Normal lungs should show them to be clear. But it was just filled with white - just how much gunk there was inside.
"Mum [back in New Zealand] was getting called at 3am or 4am by doctors saying: 'We're going to do this and that'. Had I left it any longer, we could've been in a different situation."
It would take a few more weeks for Sesio to recover in hospital before being discharged and allowed to fly back home to Auckland a month after she touched down in Los Angeles.
Sesio is well-known for keeping a healthy and active lifestyle and has a particular love for CrossFit training. She does not drink alcohol or smoke and eats healthily.
She credits that healthy lifestyle and her youth as being the biggest advantages to helping in her recovery; as well as the medical staff who worked to ultimately save her life.
Sesio said although the massive amount of debt remains overwhelming, she was incredibly thankful to the hospital she stayed at - Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital - and the doctors and nurses she dubbed "my angels" who helped her during her stay there.
She also wanted to give her thanks to the many people who had given a donation via the GoFundMe page, which has raised just over $21,300 as of 5pm today.
