
1. Mum dies in Bali on her second honeymoon after insurance company refuses to bring her home.
Abby Hartley and her husband Richard were on what was supposed to be a romantic trip to Bali to renew their wedding vows.
But days in, the New Zealand mum was fighting for her life in hospital with complications from a twisted bowel. There, in an Indonesian hospital, she died on Sunday, after her travel insurance company refused to pay for the medical evacuation that would take her home.
The 41-year-old was hospitalised in early August after falling ill the day after she arrived for her second honeymoon. The small business owner was diagnosed with a twisted bowel and operated on, according to Nine News. But in hospital, she suffered complications, including kidney failure and septicaemia.
Ms Hartley next developed acute respiratory distress syndrome and was placed in an induced coma, also battling with a collapsed lung caused by infection.
Her family – including her children Sophie, 20, and 16-year-old Toby, who flew to be by her side – fought to get their travel insurance company to pay for her medical treatment, but they refused, saying her illness was related to a pre-existing condition.
But they did not give up on trying to bring their loved one home, and next appealed to the New Zealand government, as well as the public, who donated more than $215,000 through a fundraising page.
The money raised was enough to pay for medical bills and the $168,000 flight home, but Ms Hartley never got to board. Her grieving family announced she died on Sunday.
“On Sunday morning 8.55am Bali time mum let go after fighting and fighting a very long battle,” Sophie wrote on their GiveaLittle page.