Asthma - asth·ma ('az-m&)

Geela McGaughey, 55, was with a friend vacationing on board a Celebrity cruise ship that was scheduled to visit exciting destinations such as Cancun, Mexico and the Bahamas to name just a few. The long awaited vacation took a turn for the worse however, as she became critically ill while the cruise ship was docked in Cancun. It suddenly became a vacation not worth celebrating.

“I was feeling really out of it earlier that morning in Cancun,” McGaughey recalled. “I was tired, dehydrated and couldn’t breathe properly. With the hot weather, the smoggy air, and with my asthma and bad allergies, the whole thing was a bad combination.”

Inside their cabin, McGaughey told her friend she felt dehydrated. Her friend helped McGaughey downstairs to the infirmary to see the ship’s doctor. McCaughey was barely coherent while trying to speak, but the attending nurse saw her MedicAlert bracelet and called MedicAlert for more medical information. Within minutes the nurse received a fax of McGaughey’s medical records. The ship was diverted to Key West, Florida and a U.S. Coast Guard boat met up with the ship 27 miles off the coast of Key West. The Coast Guard took McGaughey ashore, where she was taken by ambulance to Lower Keys Medical Center in Key West.

“I appreciate MedicAlert’s help for notifying my family,” McCaughey said. “I wasn’t able to think clearly at the time, but thanks to MedicAlert, you were there for me.”

The cruise continued to the Bahamas, and her sister flew down to Key West to pick her up and bring her home. “I left my fanny pack in the doctor’s office, (on the ship) so I had no identification on me,” McGaughey said. “The cruise ship faxed a copy of my birth certificate, driver’s license and MedicAlert card to me, to get me on the plane home.”

McGaughey, who is retired, worked for the state of South Carolina as an environmental engineer. Besides traveling, in her spare time, she likes playing with her four grandchildren, doing needlepoint and is currently learning to play the organ.