An Australian fitness influencer’s holiday in Bali took a terrifying turn after she contracted a potentially life-threatening brain infection, leaving her hospitalised in the intensive care unit (ICU).
However, they were yet to determine whether she had contracted the bacterial or viral form of the infection. Khiana Smith, a 23-year-old fitness coach, was admitted to a hospital on the Indonesian island after a trip through Europe . In a TikTok video shared on October 23, Smith revealed that she had been taken to the intensive care unit (ICU) with brain swelling and a suspected life-threatening brain infection, the PEOPLE reported . In a follow-up video shared on October 25, Smith revealed that doctors had diagnosed her with meningitis.
“It’s actually insane how fast life can change,” she said in the video, which she filmed from her hospital bed with an intravenous (IV) drip visible in her arm. She said doctors were treating her for bacterial meningitis as a precaution.
Since then, she has been sharing updates about her condition through a series of videos on social media . She added that just a week earlier, she had been travelling with friends on a girls’ trip.
23-year-old recalls symptoms before hospitalisation
She was eventually taken to the hospital in an ambulance, where medical tests revealed the infection. “Only a few weeks ago, I was travelling Europe on a DREAM holiday. Healthy, happy and living life. Never did I imagine I’d be lying in a hospital bed fighting something so serious just weeks later,” she wrote.
The 23-year-old said that she suffered through the symptoms for an entire day, hoping for the best.
However, she woke up the following morning feeling “10 times worse”. Smith’s mother, Cass, took the first available flight to Bali after learning about her daughter’s condition, according to a report by news.com.au. “There is nothing more terrifying than knowing your child is fighting for her life in a foreign country and you’re thousands of kilometres away, unable to hold her hand,” she told the outlet.
In an Instagram Stories update shared on Sunday, she recalled how she had been enjoying her dream holiday in Europe just weeks earlier before finding herself fighting a serious infection in a hospital in Bali.
