Mystery illness claims life of Sydney nurse here
Amystery illness has claimed the life of Sydney children’s nurse Kelly Clarke, 24, who was honeymooning in Fiji. According to grieving husband Chase Clarke, 28, blood tests have ruled out Typhoid, which was originally suspected as the cause of death.
The Children’s Hospital at Westmead post-op nurse began feeling ill on Wednesday but shrugged it off as a stomach bug, had a bath and hopped into bed to sleep it off.
Within hours she was rushed to the hospital in Lautoka, half an hour north of popular tourist destination Nadi, where doctors first suspected Typhoid. When she didn’t respond to typical Typhoid treatments after two days, it was decided in the early hours of Friday morning to induce a coma.
Mr Kelly was back at the resort collecting the couple’s belongings when doctors put her under. “She said over the phone she was scared she was going to die and I just told her I loved her, what else could I say?” Mr Clarke said.
“I told her to be strong, that I was coming straight back and to rest up because she needed her strength.”
That was the newlyweds’ last ever conversation.
Mrs Clarke finally succumbed to her illness at 10.40pm on Friday night, less than an hour before a medevac team arrived to airlift her to Sydney.
The couple had been holidaying on the South Pacific island in the lead-up to Mr Clarke’s best mate’s wedding and had conquered a number of phobias together.
“We’re both petrified of sharks but we went scuba diving and kayaking over open water and had a turtle come right up to us,” he said.
The couple had plans to start a family within the next two years.
“She was very intelligent, beautiful, lovely and caring,” he said. “She loved kids and loved her work as a nurse and was getting great feedback from work.” Mrs Clarke grew up in Killarney Heights and worked for years at the Kirribilli Club for years, where the couple celebrated their wedding in April. “Kelly was bright, bubbly and over the top; she loved her makeup and always looked the part,” Kirribilli Club duty manager Launa Harper said.
Mr Clarke believed his wife had been vaccinated against typhoid, but she had contracted immune disorder lupus earlier this year.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) declined to discuss Mrs Clarke’s case specifically, but regularly helps families fly home the remains of loved ones. “The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance, in accordance with the Consular Services Charter, to the family of an Australian woman who passed away in Fiji,” a spokeswoman said.
Fijian doctors have told the family they will not release Mrs Clarke’s remains until they have conducted an autopsy.