When Tim Fehring, aged 15, fell ill while on a school trip to Europe from Australia, his educators wrote off his condition as being caused by homesickness.
According to his mother, a student in his ninth year at Blackburn High School in Melbourne began to feel ill on the very first day of the trip they took together.
To his utter surprise, his teachers persisted in brushing off his illness as simple homesickness despite the fact that he had visibly lost weight.
At this point, the final texts that he sent to his mother Barbara have been made public during the enquiry into his passing.
“I almost threw up and am working on getting better so I can have a better time,” Tim wrote in a text to his mum on June 24, 2019, 7News reports.
“I am going to sleep like a baby because it might be exhaustion. I have not slept in hours and I always feel dizzy.
“Love you mummy and will keep you up to date with more.”
Tim shared with his mother his belief that the water he had been drinking might have been the source of his health problems.
He penned a letter to his mother asking, “Ugh, can you help me?” when he was in the process of acquiring several types of water.
He claimed that the only kind that was available to him was the one that made him ill.
The infection spread to the child’s blood and lungs, which led to the development of sepsis.
Tim threw up in a trash can on the first day of the trip, which the teachers at the school attributed to the spicy cuisine they had eaten on the plane.
He continued to throw up the following day after waking up with stomach discomfort and receiving a diagnosis that he was suffering from jet lag as well as the heat.
According to the report of the coroner, the primary contributing factor was feelings of homesickness, as reported by the Daily Mail Australia.
On the third day, Tim made a desire to go back home; consequently, he was prescribed medication and transported to a pharmacist for examination.
In a text message to his mother, he begged her to let him come back the following day.
Before Tim’s mother could make the necessary arrangements for him to see a doctor, he was made to participate in a walking tour.
After learning that his desire to visit a doctor had been denied, Barbara described herself as being “appalled” by the news.
The teachers believed that Tim’s illness warranted sending him home early, and as a result, he was.
In spite of the fact that he had not been tested, a physician determined that he was “fit to go,” and a teacher suggested that he be given medication to treat nervousness.
Tim walked out of the room because he felt it was “too hot and stuffy” in there while he was there.
A few moments later, he was found lying on the floor motionless, with vomit on his clothes and nosebleeds. He also had blood coming from his nose.