Beard was rushed to the local vet — the only person in the area equipped to give blood tests — but even after she received the diagnosis she couldn't believe it. "He gave me a big bag of pills and told me to take 15 a day for three days. At the end of three days, he said, I would know whether or not the pills had worked."
Luckily for Beard, they did, but she will never forget the alternating chills and sweats accompanied by delirium as she battled against the parasite coursing through her body. At one point she was so cold that she put on a sweatshirt and wrapped herself up in the bedsheets only to wake up a few hours later in the shower fully clothed with the water running. "I must have been burning up and climbed into the shower to cool down. I have no recollection of how I got there."
Although Beard recovered sufficiently to continue her travels, for weeks afterwards she had trouble keeping her food down. Since her return to Britain she has also experienced recurrent cramps and dizzy spells as well as minor neurological problems.
"If I was to go again, I'd sleep every night under a net and religiously take my pills. It's so simple and yet your life depends on it."
In Harry's case, of course, it is too late for such advice, but Jo is determined that others should learn the lessons of his death. In hindsight, she says, she would have made sure he was better informed about the symptoms of malaria and what the dangers were so that he would not have been tempted to give away his pills. She would also like to see better training for doctors and nurses in the UK in recognizing the symptoms of malaria.
When Jo called her local GP to say that Harry had just returned from Ghana and she was worried about his symptoms, she was told it was "unlikely he had malaria" and to monitor him overnight. When his condition deteriorated the following day and she took him to her local accident and emergency department, they said, "Come back tomorrow."
It was only when she insisted on a blood test that malaria was diagnosed, and Harry was rushed to hospital for specialist treatment. There, he was given intravenous quinine but although the drug killed the malaria parasites, by now his body had suffered a massive shock and his lungs had begun to fill with fluid. He was hooked up to a breathing machine and his condition steadily improved. Then, a few days later, he suffered a sudden relapse. The cause of death was given as "adult respiratory distress syndrome". However, Jo has no doubt that it was the malaria that killed Harry.
"They threw the kitchen sink at him, but his system was just shot to pieces. People need to understand that, with malaria, time is of the essence — a few hours can make all the difference."
Despite her experience, Jo says she will not stand in the way of her other three sons, all of whom want to travel to the tropics. "My advice to them is the same advice I give to everyone: don't be complacent, take your malaria medication, and enjoy your life."
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