MONROE — The bills started piling up for Stacy Arnold and his family after they got stuck in Brazil.
Their rental car cost about $2,000 total. Buying minutes for a cell phone to make international calls ran $500. Translating medical documents topped $1,200.
Arnold, a Monroe firefighter, wasn’t focused on money, though. He was focused on his 23-month-old daughter, Alaina Arnold, who was so sick she couldn’t travel.
He found out later that his family members weren’t alone in their concern. While he was south of the equator, the Monroe community banded together, raising about $12,000 to help the Arnolds.
Now that the Arnolds are recuperating back at home, they can breathe a sigh of relief, in large part because of the community’s help.
“I feel very humbled,” Stacy Arnold said.
The Arnold family, including wife Eloise Arnold and daughter Amelia Arnold, traveled to Brazil in mid-December to visit family living in the coastal city of Florianopolis.
They knew the trip would be expensive. They were going during the holiday season. They didn’t expect Alaina would get sick, however.
Doctors were at first confused by her symptoms. They thought she had the flu, Stacy Arnold said. They later realized a urinary tract infection may have allowed bacteria to creep into her kidneys, where it festered and spread to other organs.
As doctors struggled to diagnose Alaina, her parents simply struggled.
Eloise Arnold, a Boeing employee, spent 16 days at the hospital, sleeping in a vinyl chair and eating cafeteria food. She speaks Portuguese, so she was able to speak with the doctors.
Stacy Arnold doesn’t speak the language, and so he kept in touch with family and doctors in the United States.
He fell into a steady routine, staying up past midnight so he could visit an Internet cafe during off-hours. There, he would fire off e-mails to family and send 90-page files to family doctors.
The staff at the cafe, like the Brazilian medical team, was very accommodating. One evening he got up from his booth at the cafe, only to find the shop had closed, he said. A worker stayed behind to let him finish.
“I never told them what was going on, but I think they could tell by the documents,” Arnold said.
Meanwhile, back in the states, family and friends sprang into action. They spoke to the media, bringing wider attention to his family’s plight.
U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen’s office got involved, making travel arrangements, helping with emergency visas and allowing the family to bring medical equipment through customs.
Fellow firefighters in Monroe organized a silent auction for the family. That event raised thousands of dollars.
The Arnolds finally made it home on Jan. 29, two weeks after their vacation was meant to end.
They quickly went to Seattle Children’s Hospital. Doctors already had Alaina’s records. Her parents learned she was out of the woods, but lingering problems may keep her on preventative antibiotics for another year.
While Alaina’s weight dropped during her illness by about 6 pounds — a lot for a toddler — she no longer looks like a sick girl. She’s back to a healthy 30 pounds, Arnold said. She’s playing peek-a-boo and running around.
Her trip to Brazil is becoming a foggy memory. She talks about going swimming, not shooing away nurses and needles.
“She remembers the positive things,” her father said. “There was a pool there. She swam in the pool. Somehow, she just remembers the good part.”
Andy Rathbun: 425-339-3455, arathbun@heraldnet.com.
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