A YOUNG woman has been left in £99,000 of debit after catching pneumonia on holiday – and didn't have travel insurance.
Amanda Sesio, from New Zealand, had booked flights to visit the US with her family for a cousin's wedding.
The 23-year-old boarded her flight to Los Angeles on June 28, when she quickly became ill on the flight.
Despite thinking it was just a stomach bug, after a few days she was barely able to stand, and ended up going to the hospital.
After arriving herself by Uber, she was then rushed to the emergency unit.
Amanda told NZ Herald: "As soon as we got to hospital, it was pretty much all go, go, go. When you have all the doctors and nurses running around, then you think: 'Oh, it is bad'."
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She was forced to be sedated for days, when doctors diagnosed her with pneumococcal pneumonia which led to hypoxemic respiratory failure, several blood infections and fluid in the lungs.
Amanda said her mum back in New Zealand was also getting 3am calls from the doctors telling her all of the procedures she was going to have, adding: "Had I left it any longer, we could've been in a different situation."
After weeks in hospital, she was eventually discharged and returned to New Zealand after a month – but was left with a huge bill.
Amanda's family has since launched a GoFundMe page to try and pay off her $150,000 (£99,882) medical bill – donations so far have hit $22,639 (£18,829).
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3The page, set up by her brother Shane, said: "My family and I decided to start this GoFundMe page to assist us in paying the large medical bill Amanda is now faced with paying, which is $150k.
"Any donation, no matter the size, would greatly help us in covering Amanda's medical costs and we would be forever grateful for any support we receive."
Amanda has since thanked the hospital, and warned people not to make the same mistake she did by not having travel insurance.
She said: "It's a life-changing mistake. I was kicking myself in hospital."
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