Medical Expenses for Chase Kehler

This is the latest update as of 7:30 PM Tuesday, January 8 from his mom ---- Chase Alexander Kehler was medically disembarked from the Carnival Triumph last night via a Mexican Coast Guard cutter to Cancun. The Carnival ship doctor made arrangements for emergency surgery at Amerimed Hospital in Cancun, who required a $3,000 deposit. (I had not purchased the travel insurance for the cruise). After scans and labs, the surgeon agreed that surgery was necessary. The hospital then required a $25,000 “guarantee” which I did not have available at 2am. The hospital, along with the surgeon, decided his surgery could wait til this morning in order for me to arrange funds. They also stopped treating Chase at that point (around 2-3am?). Unhooked his IV, no more pain meds, etc. Between language barrier (yes, we were using google translate), difficulty making outgoing phone calls to US from Mexico on my cell, time zone differences, and communicating with friends and family in Arkansas for assistance, the for-profit hospital decided today that we had to leave because we hadn’t paid. Yes, American laws prevent this but it is a regular practice in Mexico. A bilingual speaking Carnival nurse and a Mexican port agent acting on Carnival’s behalf tried to intervene to no avail. Mexican Immigration arrived because technically we were illegal aliens at that point, which was then resolved. Many many friends were reaching out to many many contacts on our behalf. The Amerimed Hospital had us forcibly transported to the “general hospital” in Cancun, which is in a very dangerous area, with limited services and severe lack of staff, and they literally dropped us off. The Amerimed ambulance workers left Chase sitting in a wheelchair in a hallway filled with people and then just left us there. Every hospital in a third world country you’ve ever seen depicted in a movie was what we were dropped into. After him sitting in a filthy hallway in a too-small gown with the visibly-wounded walking around, armed military guards, hundreds of people crowded in hallways talking loudly in Spanish for about an hour, and having not even been checked in or triaged, I attempted to find help so that Chase could be assessed and seen by a doctor. By this point friends had reached out to their contacts for help, and air ambulance companies were providing quotes to me to medically evacuate him back to the US, ($19,0000 to Miami or $29,000 back to Little Rock), however, they require a “fit to fly” certification from a doctor before they can do so. Because the private Amerimed Hospital had “transferred” us to the general public hospital, we had to start back at square one for assessment to do so, and as I mentioned we hadn’t even found the triage area much less been seen by a doctor after an hour and Chase was running out of time. I asked another man for help to see the doctor and he advised we leave the general hospital immediately. He took us to a second private hospital in Cancun, the Hospital Victoria where we were treated immediately and appropriately. Repeated labs and scans confirmed the need for urgent surgery. This hospital only required a deposit of $6,000. Chase was absolutely unable to fly via plane or air ambulance back to the US so I felt we had no choice but to proceed with surgery. I have just spoken to the surgeon. Chase did fine in surgery. His appendix had not ruptured but was “black with a large amount of pus”. It was laparoscopic but he does have a drain. He will be able to leave the hospital tomorrow night but cannot fly until Saturday at the earliest. We have a hotel a block from the hospital. The surgeon said he must fly home medical first class because of the need to lean back, as sitting straight up for the 6 hour trip home would be too painful for Chase. Troy flew in this afternoon and is here with me now. Kelsie Trotter and Tim Trotter have continued on with the cruise vacation as scheduled. I have talked to the US Consul here in Cancun today and they will come to the hospital tomorrow to begin the process for an emergency passport, which they say should only take 24 hours.

We will continue to update as when we can!