Young Aussie tourist left in coma after contracting common Bali illness
Julia Barresi suffered a series of debilitating seizures that her family believe were brought on as a result of contracting "Bali belly".
A "healthy, vibrant and switched on" young Australian woman has been placed in a medically induced coma and evacuated from Indonesia after suffering a series of debilitating seizures that her family believe were brought on as a result of contracting "Bali belly".
Julia Barresi, 19, lived with "health issues" as a child but her mother said she'd outgrown them and maintained a largely healthy lifestyle as a young adult. She was travelling through Bali earlier this month with friends when she fell unwell, unable to bounce back after several days.
Earlier this month, Julia began suffering seizures and was rushed to hospital on the island, but was soon transferred to Australia for emergency treatment. Julia's mother Jen said she had communications with her daughter on July 1 that immediately raised alarm bells.
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"Julia and I were communicating constantly and on Monday [and] she just didn’t seem good so I booked a flight to come over first thing Tuesday,” she told Daily Mail. "She’s a healthy, vibrant, switched on, beautiful human being. She’s my best friend in the whole wide world.
"She’s never had a seizure. She’s had health issues when she was younger but she’s perfectly healthy now." After Jen touched down in Bali and saw her daughter's condition, she made the call to transport her daughter to The Royal Melbourne Hospital. She was due to undergo an MRI on Monday.
"Her beautiful friends rang me. They called me and said, ‘she’s having seizures’ and I just said, ‘get her straight in the cab, don’t wait for an ambulance and get her straight to the hospital’," she said.
Jen said she believed that the seizures were caused by low sodium levels trigged by Bali belly, — aka, traveller's diarrhoea. The illness is usually caused by bacteria found in food and water but can be caused by viruses like Rotavirus or Norovirus, which brings on gastro. It's common among visitors to Bali.
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"She’s not a big drinker. I don’t even think she would have drank much at all because she was sick, so she wouldn’t have touched it," she said. "She’s very careful with her food, with hygiene, the water, everything. So there’s nothing that she’s done to cause what’s happened."
It's not yet known what exactly caused Julia's seizures, but Jen hopes a diagnosis will soon explain the mystery. She said it's Julia's 20th birthday on July 29 and the family hope her daughter is well enough to celebrate.
A GoFundMe page has been started for the family to help pay Julia’s medical bills. Her flight back to Australia may end up costing the family A$170,000 alone.
"She’s been through hell and back but she’ll bounce back. Anyone who knows Julia knows how special she is, she doesn’t have a nasty bone in her body," Jen said.
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