The mother of a diabetic teenager who died after becoming seriously ill on an overseas school trip three years ago has told a coroner's court her son should never have died and she wants to make sure no other family experiences the same loss.
Lachlan Cook was just 16 years old when he suffered a cardiac arrest in Vietnam in 2019. He never recovered and died back home in Australia.
An inquest into his death will explore how staff on the trip managed the teenager's diabetes, including their understanding of his specific needs if he became unwell and whether local medical attention should have been sought sooner.
Lachlan was a boy who loved his sport and enjoyed competition, the inquest heard.
He played in two basketball teams and in the years before his death he fell in love with golf. His other passion was snowboarding.
"He had a healthy competitive spirit," his mother Kirsten McMahon said in a statement to the court.
"He was certainly known on the basketball court to be a hard worker, strong leader, and would always give it his best shot."
At the age of nine he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
"He decided he'd learn straight away how to inject his own insulin," Ms McMahon said.
"This was his whole approach to his condition — manage it and get on with life."
In 2018 Kilvington Grammar School sent out a letter about the opportunity for students to attend a school camp in Vietnam with UK organisation World Challenge.
Lachlan's GP reviewed his fitness to attend, they completed the pre-planning and in September 2019 he flew to Vietnam with his school group.
'I would've insisted he go to hospital'
Two weeks into the trip, on September 26, Lachlan advised staff that he had been vomiting and could not hold down any liquid. He thought he must have eaten something the day before that had caused him to feel unwell.
Later that afternoon he woke up with abdominal pain. He was vomiting and thirsty.
His mother, who had not heard from him in a few days, sent him a text to see how the trip was going. She told the court that within 15 minutes she received a call from a staff member.
"They said he was vomiting and unwell. I asked about glucose levels," she said.
"I said to make sure they were monitored regularly because if he vomited again it could cause his blood glucose levels to rise quickly.
Ms McMahon said she also believed a doctor had been contacted.
Staff began to check his blood glucose levels every half an hour. The court heard they dropped to 17 and he was given some medication to help with the nausea.
The court heard Lachlan told the staff if his levels got too high or low overnight he would wake up and adjust them.
At 5am the next morning, a staff member went to check on him and found him seated on the end of the bed, breathing fast but communicating normally.
He then began to slur his speech. They checked his levels and found they were dangerously high at 27.
Lachlan became unresponsive and was rushed to ICU.
'It was agonising'
Back in Australia, Ms McMahon received a call from World Challenge staff to say they had taken Lachlan to hospital, that "he had had a cardiac arrest, was in a coma and very unwell".
On the morning of September 28, Lachlan was stabilised and transferred to a hospital in Bangkok, in Thailand, where his family flew over to see him.
"We arrived at Bangkok at midnight. It was the first time we'd seen Lachlan in over three weeks," Ms McMahon said.
"We watched as he lay motionless in ICU in a Bangkok hospital … he had tubes and machines connected to him keeping him breathing."
"The doctors were all sharing that they were doing their best … without the help of a translator. We understood he was critical but they were doing their best."
The family wanted him on home soil, and on October 2, after many days of waiting for him to be stable enough, he was flown to Melbourne.
"It was an agonising flight as I watched my son motionless, hooked up to machines in this tiny aircraft," Ms McMahon said.
On October 4, the Royal Children's Hospital informed his family that as a result of the cardiac arrest, Lachlan's brain had swollen to the point where he was brain dead. His life support was switched off.
In a statement read out in court, Ms McMahon spoke about her "compassionate" son.
"He was courageous and determined in the face of adversity," she said.
"I loved his bear hugs and goodnight text messages."
She said her family's world "changed forever" the day her son died.
"I never want any family to have to endure what we are doing," she said.
"All students should be able to go on a school [trip and return safe]
The inquest continues.
