GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Rescue efforts continue in Myanmar and Thailand after a devastating earthquake shook Southeast Asia on Friday.
Channel 2 Action News spoke with a family from Gwinnett County who had just moved to Thailand.
Joshua Fekete, 36, took a teaching job in Bangkok. He and his wife and their two small children moved a few weeks early before Fekete started the job the next month.
They had only been in Bangkok a week when the earthquake hit. Despite having several doctor visits and physicals that gave him clean bills of health before he moved, he got rushed to the hospital Friday.
“He had clogged arteries, a heart attack, and developed sepsis, then they said he had an infection in his appendix,” his mother Sylvia Johnson told Channel 2′s Eryn Rogers.
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While he was waiting for emergency surgery, the earthquake hit.
“He was supposed to go back for treatment, but they had to move the patients outside in the parking lot in the beds, so that was frightening,” Johnson said.
The 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit Myanmar but reverberated across Southeast Asia including Thailand, all while Fekete was suffering a heart attack.
“He was in a lot of pain because he had to wait so long, and we were worried that he might be in real trouble, not having the surgery right away,” Johnson said.
They’re now having trouble with insurance internationally. Their American insurance company said they’ll cover the surgeries.
However, the family said the hospital is asking them to pay $16,000 upfront in order to discharge Fekete.
Communication is also difficult because the family is using WhatsApp which requires Wi-Fi, and they say that’s been shaky after the earthquake. Johnson also said flights out of Thailand are being restricted.
“We want to get him back home because at this point, he’s not well enough to be away,” Johnson said.
The family set up a GoFundMe campaign to help get Fekete and his family back to Georgia.
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