Tyler Brower was en route to Mount Everest when a severe infection in his lungs caught him off guard.

“I was the sickest I’ve ever been and felt beat down like never before,” he said.

Tyler is a Global Rescue member as well as a member of The Explorers Club, an organization that counts many of the world’s greatest explorers among its ranks, including the likes of Ernest Shackleton, Edmund Hillary and Buzz Aldrin.

After a life-threatening event on an adventure to Everest Base Camp, Tyler detailed his experience and shared how medical transportation saved his life.

I recently had the opportunity to embark on an adventure to Everest Base Camp. As I made my trek up in Sagarmatha National Park, I experienced what I later found to be two viral bacterial infections, one in my stomach and one in my lungs. On the evening of the fourth trekking day, my body started to display the symptoms of pulmonary edema, a common but deadly bacterial infection in the Himalayas.

I was very blessed to have encountered and befriended fellow trekkers along the journey, including one of the top rated high altitude doctors in the world from the CDC. After recording my vitals, it was his recommendation that the next morning I be evacuated to the CIWEC Travel Clinic in Kathmandu.

As morning came around and I encountered another painful sleepless night, this doctor once again recorded my vitals. With a 102.9 degree fever, a resting heart rate of 123 bpm and fluid in my lungs, he strongly suggested I go down to Kathmandu as soon as possible, in his professional opinion. My sherpa called a local rescue helicopter for a bid and reported a price of $3,300 per hour, and we would need at least three hours in the helicopter for weather and refuel.

I realized then that the back of my Explorers Club membership card had a number for Global Rescue. I reached out to my mother back in the United States via wifi to call the number for me. A few minutes later, I got a call from Global Rescue on the doctor’s phone, which had a local number.  They said, ‘Tyler, we have a heli on its way up to you in Namche Bazaar. It will be at the pad in about 40 minutes and they ask you to please be there when it comes.’ Global Rescue had spoken with the Explorers Club and told me that as soon as I landed I would be taken to the hospital via ambulance.

I was incredibly thankful to hear the news. My mother was extremely concerned because I had reached out for the first time to her on my trip requesting a heli with not much more information. She was very impressed with Global Rescue as well as the compliance between The Explorers Club and Global Rescue. The Explorers Club and Global Rescue saved my life.

Once I was down in Kathmandu at the CIWEC clinic, they said that if I stayed up in Namche one day or trekked on to the next village, the fluid in my right lung would have increased and I would have undoubtedly gone into cardiac arrest.

Now two weeks back home I am able to breathe deep, I have no pain, I’m not sick and am feeling great again! I want to write this to thank everyone at the Explorers Club and Global Rescue from the bottom of my heart.

Global Rescue memberships include personalized advisory services, 24/7/365 emergency assistance and evacuation services at no additional cost to you. To learn more about membership benefits, click here.

Similar Posts