A woman’s dream vacation in Thailand turned into a terrifying medical nightmare after she broke her back in three places, racked up a massive hospital bill, and then caught a mosquito-borne illness while waiting to come home.
Joanna Ingram, 57, had been enjoying the final days of a two-week trip with her husband, Stuart, when everything suddenly went wrong.
The couple had traveled through Phuket, Koh Samui, and Krabi, soaking up the winter sun before deciding to go on a beach pony trek on March 8.
But the relaxing excursion ended in disaster.
“One minute I was on the back of the horse, the next I was laying on my back on the ground,” Joanna recalled. “I’ve got no recollection of how I got there.”
At first, Joanna thought she had only been winded. She was taken back to her hotel, but as the pain got worse, she was rushed to a hospital.
That is when doctors gave her the terrifying news.
She had broken her back in three different places.
“Me and Stuart were both terrified,” she said. “We didn’t know if I’d be able to walk or move again, or if we’d be able to get home.”
Joanna underwent emergency spinal fusion surgery and said she now has around seven screws in her back holding everything together.
Thankfully, she still has full movement, something she called “an absolute miracle.”
But the nightmare was far from over.
The couple said their travel insurance would not cover the medical costs because horseback riding was considered a high-risk activity.
“Our insurance won’t cover us,” Joanna said. “They say horse riding is a high-risk activity, which I had no idea about.”
That left the couple facing a medical bill of about £60,000, or roughly more than $75,000.
Joanna said the enormous cost wiped out their life savings.
After spending three weeks in the hospital, she was moved to a hotel while waiting until she was healthy enough to fly home.
Then came another frightening setback.
While recovering in Thailand, Joanna contracted dengue fever, a mosquito-borne infection that can cause high fever, severe headache, swollen glands, and intense body pain.
She said she became so sick that there were moments when she was not sure she would survive.
The illness forced her to spend even more time in the hospital and extended what was supposed to be a two-week vacation into an 11-week ordeal.
Joanna was finally able to fly home earlier this month.
“I can’t describe how it felt to finally be going home,” she said. “There was so much relief and excitement at finally being able to see family and friends again.”
She is currently using a walking frame and hopes to recover fully over the next three to six months.
Friends and family have since set up a GoFundMe to help cover the crushing medical costs.
Joanna said she and Stuart have been overwhelmed by the generosity of people who donated.
“We can’t believe the generosity of people that have contributed,” she said. “It’s down to them that we’ve been able to get the funds to get home.”
