When their small son’s apparently unimportant accident necessitated emergency surgery in a Mexican hospital, an Australian couple was left with a large medical cost.
Seven-year-old Harry Lomax was out for a stroll in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on February 5 with his father, Ryan Lomax, and two younger siblings when he’slightly fell’ while winding himself.
Although initially everything seemed to be well, Harry’s mother Danielle began to worry when her seven-year-old began throwing up and grew woozy, disoriented, and pale.
As Mr. and Mrs. Lomax hurried Harry to a Cabo hospital, a CT scan indicated that the fall had ruptured his spleen and begun to pour liquids into his belly.
In March 2022, the family relocated to Mexico from Perth after Ms. Lomax left her job as a banker to launch her own online store and work from home.
Harry was characterized by Ms. Lomax as a lively and active youngster, and she called his slip-up just “another slip.”
For him, it was nothing out of the norm. She told news.com.au that the man “got up a little winded, claimed he was alright, and proceeded to walk.”
I took them home, and when I got back from grocery shopping, Ryan attempted to take Harry to the bathroom, but he simply collapsed. Harry was in bed throwing up.
I just had to take one glance at him to realize something was wrong.
Due to Harry’s spleen’s irreparable damage and 600 cc of blood leakage into his belly, physicians had to conduct an urgent, 4.5-hour splenectomy to remove the diseased organ.
Harry spent the next six days in the hospital after the procedure was a success before going home on February 11.
He would have passed away if his spleen had continued to leak into his body, according to Ms. Lomax.
“I was honestly hoping that they would bring my kid back because I didn’t believe he would be coming back,” the mother said. “It all occurred so fast.”
The spleen controls a person’s body’s amounts of platelets, red, and white blood cells; as a result of its removal, Harry now has a slight chance of contracting life-threatening infections.
Ms. Lomax thought the travel or trauma insurance they had purchased would pay for the hospital expenses, but their travel insurance had expired in December.
The accident was not judged “traumatic” enough to be covered by their trauma insurance.
The medical expenses, which rapidly reached $25,000, required the Lomax family to directly utilize a significant portion of their life savings.
Do I regret not verifying the renewal of my travel insurance, which I am certain I did in December? S*** yes! Can it be changed? Nah,” said Ms. Lomax on Facebook.
She has subsequently warned other travelers to make sure their insurance is current and would protect them after Harry’s incident.
“If you’re going anywhere, have insurance.” Double verify if you believe you do. Maybe not,” she wrote.
Parents from Harry’s previous school in Perth started a GoFundMe for the family, and in only two weeks, it had raised more than $8,000 of its $15,000 target.
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