Grandfather dies after contracting malaria and severe dengue fever
A West Australian grandfather has died after contracting dengue hemorrhagic fever and malaria.
Darwin Vidal, 56, died on November 3 in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, where he had been living with his wife Irma and children, according to a GoFundMe page.
One of his daughters, Clarita Vidal, 25, who lives in Perth, told Yahoo7 the family are devastated by the death of a “good man” who “always tried to make people laugh”.
Mr Vidal, a fly in, fly out miner, fell sick with dengue on October 31 and was hospitalised.
Dengue fever is spread by tropical mosquitos and is prominent in Indonesia.
However, Mr Vidal was diagnosed with dengue haemorrhagic fever – also known as severe dengue.
“He was being treated for just the dengue fever at a local hospital not far from his home first,” Clarita said.
“But then he had a stroke.”
It was then determined the 56-year-old had also contracted malaria and he was moved to a larger hospital.
His family believes he contracted the virus while working in Burkina Faso in West Africa in October, where it is prominent.
However, it’s also possible he contracted severe dengue in West Africa as there was an outbreak of the virus reported in Burkina Faso in November 2017, according to the World Health Organisation.
“Everything was getting worse and worse,” Clarita said.
“On Friday (November 2) he was also diagnosed with sepsis in his blood. He was trying to fight it but it was all too strong.”
By this stage, Mr Vidal could only communicate via blinking and had lost the ability to speak.
Clarita and her sister Alex, 28, rang him that same day.
“We spoke to him via video chat,” she said.
“We told him we wanted to see him. We were desperate but the doctor told us he was a 50/50 chance of survival.”
Clarita said it was her final call to her father and even though he couldn’t communicate “he was desperate to talk and calm us down”.
“But the last thing I said was to be calm and it will be OK,” she said.
“And that we love him and we are going over to see him and he calmed and rested his eyes.”
The two sisters rushed to Indonesia to see their father but they didn’t make it in time.
“We were able to see his body and at least be with him,” the 25-year-old said.
“But it’s all just been really tough – signing death certificates and organising what to do with his body.
“We want to bring him back to Australia.
“He was a good, hardworking man who had a heart of gold and was always making jokes. He loved family barbecues and always invited people over too cook with him.”
Mr Vidal wasn’t an Indonesian citizen and didn’t have travel insurance.
The family is hoping to raise enough money to transport his body back to WA, where he lived most of his life.
Clarita said her father was “too carefree” and warned anyone travelling overseas to get travel insurance.
However, her family have made it their mission to get him home.
“Dad always put his family first before helping himself,” she said.
