A Carbon County Man Who Had A Medical Emergency While in Ecuador Has Died

July 14, 2019

WELLINGTON, Utah – A Carbon County man who suffered from an aortic dissection while on business in Ecuador has died, his family said.

Jim Campbell was waiting to be transferred to the United States to receive the life-saving surgery he needed. The surgery could not be performed in Ecuador and Campbell needed to be transferred via a medical evacuation company. The family started a GoFundMe to help with the huge cost.

Campbell was scheduled to fly back to Utah on Monday.

In a statement, his family said:

We are so grateful for everyone’s messages and donations and we were so ready to fly him back. But my dad passed away early this morning. Thank you to everyone who supported us and will continue to support us through this difficult time.

His family says, as they feared, there were complications with his aorta and it failed at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday. The family will now use all the funds raised to get him home and prepare his funeral. gf.me/u/t325y5

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July 13, 2019

WELLINGTON, Utah – Things can get quite competitive when families play board games.

The object is to win, of course.

For the Campbell family, though, the object of the game they were playing Saturday evening was to get their minds off of what really has their attention.

“It’s just a rollercoaster of ups and downs,” said Emma Campbell, who was playing the game with her four siblings and grandmother. “We were ready, like in the car, we prepared and we talked about it, like, okay, he’s going to be gone.”

She’s talking about her father, Jim Campbell, who was on a business trip in Ecuador last week when he collapsed.

At first, doctors thought he had a massive infection.

“His legs were paralyzed, they were paralyzed from the waist down and his kidneys failed,” said Cathy Campbell, who is Jim’s mother. “Then they eventually found a dissection in the aorta and it’s very extensive.”

Cathy Campbell, who lives in California, rushed to Wellington in Carbon County as soon as she heard about her son’s condition.

Wellington is where Jim lives and she wanted to help take care of her grandchildren while Jim’s wife went to Ecuador to be with him.

“I initially came here expecting to prepare to have his body returned,” said Cathy Campbell.

However, Jim Campbell started improving while at the hospital in Ecuador.

The family says doctors there helped give him a fighting chance to live if he can have surgery on his aorta.

“The problem is they can’t correct the dissection, the aortic dissection, in South America or even in Mexico. Only here, and so we have to get him home,” said Randy Dieterle, who is Jim’s father-in-law.

Dieterle and his wife also traveled to Wellington from California to help take care of Jim’s five children.

Getting Campbell back to Utah, though, isn’t easy.

Or cheap.

Instead of putting him on a commercial flight, the family has to find a medical evacuation company because of his condition to fly him back to Utah.

“To get to the United States is $46,000, basically,” said Cathy Campbell. “That’s just to get him to the United States.”

That flight would get Campbell to Birmingham, Alabama.

The family says his insurance won’t cover that medical flight.

Once in Alabama, Campbell would have to get on another medical flight to Salt Lake City.

Before all that, the family says they have to pay his hospital bills in Ecuador before the hospital will release him.

“No. It’s not cheap,” said Cathy Campbell.

Late Saturday afternoon, the family found and booked medical flights.

Jim Campbell is now scheduled to get to Utah this coming Monday.

The family is hoping that’s soon enough, especially in his condition.

“Because you don’t know when it will fail,” said Dieterle. “It’s a time bomb, basically, is what it is.”

Campbell’s children just want to see him and talk to him again.

They know the first thing he will say to them.

“He’d probably check on all our grades,” said Emma Campbell with a laugh.

A little bit of humor, and a good board game, is all this family can do for now as they wait.

The family has set up a fundraising page.

If you would like to donate to their cause, you can click on this GoFundMe link.