No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeArchiveCosta Rica Trip Turns Tragic for Texas Family

Costa Rica Trip Turns Tragic for Texas Family

Eden Swenson should be back home in Houston, Texas, by now, refreshed from a sunny vacation in Costa Rica and anticipating her upcoming two-year wedding anniversary. Instead, she sits next to a Costa Rican hospital bed in the harsh glow of fluorescent lights while her husband, Chad Swenson, fights for his life.

Last month, the couple was enjoying an idyllic day rafting down the Tenorio River in Costa Rica’s northwestern Guanacaste province with a group of other travelers when things suddenly went wrong. Another member of the group grabbed a vine and began climbing it, causing a tree limb to snap. It fell some 30 feet, striking 36-year-old Chad Swenson in the head and knocking him instantly unconscious.

River guides strapped Swenson to the back of a raft with duct tape and carried him through tangled jungle up to the road. The family’s monthlong ordeal was just beginning. 

Swenson was transported by ambulance to CIMA Hospital in San José. By the time they arrived, 15 hours had lapsed since the accident and Swenson’s brain had swollen to the point that doctors had to remove part of his forehead to allow the swelling to subside.

Since then, Swenson has undergone four emergency operations in 21 days, and while he has shown some signs of improvement, he remains in a coma.

Meanwhile, anxious friends and family back home in Texas are scrambling to raise the thousands of dollars that Eden Swenson, a restaurant manager, needs to transport her husband back to a U.S. hospital. An air ambulance would cost up to $40,000, and the family’s insurance company won’t pay for it.

While waiting for donations to trickle in, Eden Swenson and mother-in-law Sue Marsh spend hospital visiting hours at Chad Swenson’s side. Their daily routine provides a sense of familiarity in an unfamiliar country. Neither speaks Spanish, and they both feel lost outside of going to their apartment, the hospital and a local supermarket.

They say they have received kindness and support from other families in the intensive care unit, friends and family back home, and hospital staff members.

“We’ve met so many kind people here,” Marsh said. “We want Chad to meet them too.”

“Chad is the type of person that is everyone’s best friend,” Eden Swenson said. “He’s always laughing, always joking. He’s the kind of person that everyone wants to be around.”

The family has set up a trust in Chad Swenson’s name, at www.chadstrust.com.

Trending Now

FBI Recordings Reveal Costa Rica Ex-Minister Celso Gamboa’s Drug Ties

Costa Rican authorities continue to hold former security minister Celso Gamboa in custody as U.S. officials push for his extradition on drug charges. Recent...

Panama Canal Warns of Traffic Decline as Economic Uncertainty Grows

The Panama Canal will take in about $400 million less in the next fiscal year due to a drop in ship traffic caused by...

Major Cocaine Seizure in Costa Rica’s South Highlights Ongoing Cartel Fight

Costa Rican police pulled off a big win against drug traffickers this Sunday, seizing over a ton of cocaine hidden in a tourism minibus...

Honduras agrees to receive migrants under new US deportation agreement

The US has signed a new deportation agreement with Honduras, allowing officials to send migrants from other countries there instead of keeping them in...

Earthquake Shakes Costa Rica’s Central Valley

An earthquake shook Costa Rica early Friday morning. The tremor occurred at 12:45 a.m. with a magnitude of 4.4. Its epicenter was located 1...

Costa Rica President Confronts Calls to Strip Immunity

Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves denounced today an “attempted judicial coup” as he appeared before a congressional committee that must recommend to the full...
Avatar
spot_img
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica