What was supposed to be a dream trip celebrating high school graduation and an upcoming 18th birthday has turned into a fight for survival for an Amarillo teenager.
Thalia, a recent graduate of Tascosa High School, remains in the intensive care unit at a hospital in Thailand after collapsing during a family vacation on June 29.
According to her family, Thalia became lightheaded while getting ready for the day, passed out, hit her head and later began having seizures.
Her mother, Lalita Bermudez, said the family had just started getting ready for the day when everything changed.
"We're getting ready to start our day, figuring out what we want to do," Bermudez said. "And she went to the restroom... I hear my eight-year-old saying, mom, Valerie's yelling something."
When Bermudez reached her daughter, she found her on the floor with a knot on her head. Thalia was still conscious long enough to tell her mother she had gotten lightheaded, passed out and thrown up.
Moments later, she lost consciousness.
"I went to go get some wipes to kind of help clean up her throat and stuff like that," Bermudez said. "And came back and she was fully unconscious... I tried to wake her up. She wouldn't wake up."
While waiting for an ambulance to arrive, Bermudez said Thalia's arms and legs began flexing as though she was having seizures.
A CT scan later revealed a severe brain hemorrhage.
Doctors performed emergency surgery to place a drain before taking Thalia back into surgery the following day for a decompressive craniectomy, removing part of her skull to relieve dangerous pressure on her brain.
"Her swelling was just getting much, much, much more," Bermudez said. "So, they went out and did an emergent surgery to remove her bone flap to allow the brain room to swell."
Thalia's father, Andy Keropraseuth, was still in the United States when he got the phone call.
"When you get that call in the middle of the night that your baby girl is in the hospital, you know, it's really tough just being on the other side of the world and having to book an emergency flight over here... just to be with her," he said.
While Thalia remains in the ICU, her family says there have been encouraging signs. The swelling in her brain has started to improve, pressure has decreased, she's opening her eyes more consistently and responding more than she was before.
Still, doctors say recovery will take time.
"It's kind of a waiting game," Bermudez said. "The estimated time they're saying to her to be stable is maybe one to two months, given nothing else occurs."
As the family focuses on Thalia's recovery, they're also trying to navigate an unfamiliar healthcare system thousands of miles from home.
Bermudez said paying for care in Thailand has been one of the biggest challenges.
"I've never been hospitalized in Thailand. I don't know what it's like here. I don't know what their policies are," she said. "The pay-as-you-go basis here... has been pretty difficult."
According to the family's fundraiser, hospital costs are expected to exceed $100,000 by the end of the month. Once she's stable enough to travel, an international air ambulance to bring her home could cost about $340,000.
"We don't have the funds to just be here the entire time," Bermudez said. "So, we just wanna get her back home... that's why it was so important for us to start that campaign."
Before the trip, Thalia had just graduated from Tascosa High School and completed the Patient Care Technician Program at AmTech Career Academy. She had already started taking college prerequisite courses as she worked toward her dream of becoming a nurse.
"My goal is to make a difference in people's lives," Thalia said before the injury. "I want to be the kind of care that I would want for my own family."
Every day, family members continue talking to her, playing familiar voices over the phone and hoping something reaches her.
"I'm hoping she hears us every day," Bermudez said. "We both contact our family, our friends, her friends, just to talk to her over the phone to see if something will pull her back."
Despite the uncertainty, her mother says the young woman everyone knows hasn't changed.
"She's always been so bright, so positive," Bermudez said. "She's super nice, super friendly... since she was little, she can find joy in just the smallest things."
The family has launched a GoFundMe to help cover Thalia's medical expenses, transportation back to the United States and the rehabilitation she'll need once she's home.
According to the fundraiser, "Every donation, share, prayer, and connection to a business or charitable organization brings Thalia one step closer to coming home."
