Tricia flies home for treatment

STRICKEN young mother Tricia Powell has finally been evacuated by a team of specialised medical personnel from Bahrain to a hospital near her family's home in South Africa.

Tricia, 31, who fell ill after contracting an extremely rare strain of viral encephalitis, an acute inflammation of the brain where the immune system stops functioning, has been slowly recovering at Ibrahim Khalil Kanoo Medical Complex since June.

Her evacuation was initially planned for July but was delayed due to a lack of funds and spiralling evacuation costs.

Tricia's father, Flash Powell, on his recent visit to Bahrain, said: "I was in touch with several airlines and international medical evacuation agencies in the last couple of months but the cost seemed to double each time after the initial quotation.

"We have finally been able to evacuate Tricia through 911 Netcare, a South African medical evacuation service, and Etihad Airways at the cost of approximately BD12,000."

Flash, along with a doctor and paramedic, accompanied Tricia back home to South Africa on the ten-and-a-half-hour journey last week.

Although Tricia's family had established a Tricia Powell Trust to gather funds for her evacuation and her treatment in South Africa - which amounts to BD 40 per day for hospitalisation alone in a specialised medical centre - her evacuation was privately funded by her close family and friends back home.

"The donations in the Trust Fund will be used solely for her treatment in South Africa. At the moment it is sufficient for five months of specialised care only," added Flash, appalled at the fact that Tricia's medical insurance did not cover the cost of repatriation to her home country in case of emergency.

Around 80 per cent of the appeal fund amount has been collected in South Africa and the remaining aid came from Bahrain, Canada, the UK and Germany. Donations from Bahrain came from individuals, charitable organisations and anonymous donors.

"Our volunteers saw Tricia at their weekly hospital visits. They read about her ordeal in the newspaper and decided to help," said Mariam Jacob a volunteer at Ecumenical Conference of Charity (ECC) which is registered under the St Christopher's Cathedral that has donated a small sum as part of its charitable efforts in the community.

Although doctors in Bahrain have given a positive prognosis of her recovery, specialists in South Africa will further gauge Tricia's condition following tests at a hospital in Nelspruit.

According to Flash and Theunis Strydom, her boyfriend who is living and working in Bahrain, Tricia's condition has definitely improved but will still require a minimum of six-to-nine months of painstaking rehabilitation.

"She stays awake for two-to-three-hours at a stretch now and is aware of her situation. She knows that her nine-year-old son Ryan is back at school in South Africa and that she is now joining him too. Her mental ability is there but physically she has a long way to go," added Flash.

"But she is a stubborn and determined woman and if she recovers fully I think she will come back to Bahrain to prove to everyone that her illness was just a hiccup in her life. Tricia's job as an events manager at Alexander Ross was her dream job, something that she loved doing."

Tricia contracted the virus on a business trip to South America and was taken to Salmaniya Medical Complex in March where she lay in a coma and was put on oxygen and an intravenous drip before being transferred to Ibrahim Khalil Kanoo Medical Complex.

Her son was a pupil at the British School of Bahrain and leaves many good friends behind in the kingdom.

Meanwhile, Theunis, who works for SJ Media Group, will continue to lend his support to Tricia and plans to visit her in hospital during the upcoming Eid vacations and at regular intervals after that.

"It will be her decision whether she wants to come back but come what may we will be together when she has pulled through this ordeal," he said.