Surgeon’s vain fight to save author
A Vanuatu surgeon tried in vain for three hours to save a New Zealand woman who died after falling off a horse while on honeymoon in Vanuatu.
Joy Ramirez was rushed by boat to the mainland hospital after an excursion turned to tragedy on Saturday.
Surgeon Basil Leodoro operated on the Auckland woman at length after she received blunt-force trauma injuries to the abdomen.
However, efforts to save the respected children’s book author proved unsuccessful.
Leodoro said Ramirez was admitted to hospital on Saturday evening for emergency surgery but would not specify what kind of injuries she had sustained.
‘‘Following a two-to-three-hour operation her condition began to deteriorate and she died on Sunday morning,’’ he said.
Ramirez was on her honeymoon when the tragedy occurred. She was on a private island south of Espiritu Santo when she came off a horse, a Promedical Vanuatu spokeswoman said.
She had a background in singing and public relations in Auckland, Wellington, and Australia.
She described herself as an ‘‘up-and-coming children’s writer’’ on her website. Her first book, titled Toot – the world’s tiniest whale, was published in 2015.
Ramirez said she wrote it to empower children and ran an Instagram account featuring a figurine of the main character.
‘‘I had a dream where I wanted to create a series of stories that would help to teach kids positive attitudes and social skills,’’ she said at the book’s launch two years ago.
Ramirez’ agents Karen Kay Management posted a tribute online after her death saying she was ‘‘such a lovely and talented person and gone far too soon’’.
The Project Jonah charity was mourning the loss of a person it described as a ‘‘huge advocate’’ for marine mammals. General manager Darren Grover said the charity worked with Ramirez in schools to promote conservation. The author had been in the process of finishing her second book, which, like her first, was also expected to have themes about protecting the ocean.
‘‘It was a real, total shock to read someone so young had been taken like that,’’ said Grover.
‘‘She had a passion for engaging children and younger generations. The messages really came across, and they were really important.
‘‘Anyone who met her could feel her positivity and drive.’’