Vacation Nightmare: Dutch Teen’s Seizure at Moroccan Airport Leads to Harrowing Medical Ordeal

"My mother, my two sons and I were at the airport in February, ready to board to return home. Just as we were about to get in line, everything changed. My youngest son, then 17 years old, had an epileptic seizure. It happens to him sometimes, but it had been a long time, and only once before on vacation," Yvonne Bijkersma (46) told RTL Nieuws. Her son’s situation quickly became complicated. "He turned blue, stopped breathing and was completely unconscious. Passersby immediately alerted the staff, but help took a long time to arrive. We waited nearly twenty minutes. By that time, Dinand (pseudonym, at the son’s request, editor’s note) had already regained consciousness," the mother added.

After that, Yvonne wanted to board with her family, but she was met with the airline crew’s refusal. "Even after my protests, reminding them that he had never had two consecutive seizures. We decided that my mother would return alone, our luggage already checked in and without certainty that her insurance would cover the costs. Dinand, still confused, was in a wheelchair." In the aftermath, the teenager had a second seizure. Immediately, he was admitted to the hospital. "At the clinic, Dinand was still convulsing and was immediately taken care of. When we were finally able to see him, a doctor asked me if he should resuscitate him in case of a new crisis. That terrified me: his heart never stops, it just stops breathing," the forty-year-old continued.

Dinand was admitted to intensive care. His mother and brother spent the night in a hotel. "At 5 a.m., he woke up, he didn’t know where he was, was looking for me, and didn’t understand the French-speaking staff. For three hours, he thought we had abandoned him." His health had improved. But the family preferred to spend an extra week in Morocco. "The next day, everything was fine again for Dinand. He even joked about it, saying he had given us an extra week of vacation," his mother assured, adding that her son did not enjoy the trips this year. "Three weeks before Morocco, he had broken his arm in Austria, and in July, in Crete, he stepped on a sea urchin," she confided. His summer vacations therefore amounted to: three trips, three hospitals.