It’s just a small scratch – it’s no big deal. How many times have you gotten a superficial injury and thought nothing of it? Small injuries are normally not that serious. However, often when diving small injuries can become serious. Stay Safe and Get Covered.
A young Singaporean diver who was a DiveAssure member was living and working on a remote island in the Philippines. She would regularly explore the rich local diving spots. This young woman found herself in need of some urgent medical assistance after what seemed to be a very superficial cut from a coral.
Diving Accident – The Symptoms
Around Christmas time, the diver sustained an initial injury to her big toe. She had been exploring the wonderful sights of the colorful coral and had sustained a cut while diving. After the dive her toe seemed to become infected so she took a few days off from diving and was treating the scratch with a topical antibiotic. Her foot then started to swell up and a few days later she happened to notice a more severe infection.
Losing Consciousness
One night she started to suffer from fever and an increase in severity of pain in her foot. The fever persisted all the next day. In addition, she was very nauseous and her toes and fingers started to lose circulation, turned white, and became numb. She wasn’t able to eat or drink anything. She then started to drop drastically in temperature and her blood pressure and heart rate became very high. In addition to all of these symptoms this member developed a red, swollen rash on her stomach. She also noticed black, scabby spots which were appearing throughout her body. The symptoms were becoming rapidly worse. She then started to go in and out of responsiveness and would only occasionally respond stating she was experiencing sharp pain in her feet.
Evacuation to Cebu
The diver was unable to receive any further medical treatment due to the island not having any access to medical providers or facilities. It was decided that she needed to be evacuated from the island immediately. As circumstances would have it, Typhoon Ursula had just hit the area and all boats were destroyed or incapacitated. The weather conditions would not allow any permittance for her to leave the island by normal means. She could only be airlifted by helicopter to Cebu. Later into that afternoon, the member was medically evacuated by helicopter to a medical facility with a hyperbaric chamber.
It Gets Worse
After she was stabilized the doctors had some terrible news. Her foot had developed gangrene and may have to be amputated. The member would go on to have a lengthy hospital stay and eventually return home to Singapore for her follow-up surgery to try to save her foot. What began as a peaceful holiday excursion turned out to be a life-threatening nightmare.
She went to the hospital and we contacted you guys straight away, the contact in Cebu gave treatment, but not the correct treatment that was needed. I was in touch with an emergency doctor in Germany. I sent her photos that I had received from the hospital and she told me exactly what to do and they said straight away to amputate two or three of the smaller toes to save the foot as the infection was too far gone. You guys were amazing, you made it happen that she got medevacced to Singapore, as she is a Singaporean, in order to get the right treatment, sadly, she did lose her foot, but without you guys, she would have been much worse. You even stepped in although it was a “user” error, if she had taken care of her cut immediately and not ignored it, it wouldn’t have happened, it is like driving a car without a seatbelt and you still kicked in and gave all the support possible. for that I can only give you 5 stars, from the heart“ – Eggert Biggs (Sales and marketing director of Amun Ini)
We Recommend Comprehensive Coverage When Traveling and Diving
As a member of the DiveAssure Association, the diver was assisted with the evacuation and medical bills. She received ongoing care and support until she returned home.
For more information on joining the DiveAssure Association go to www.diveassure.com.