"It's not good." Those were the last words uttered by Natasha Lechner, just moments after she had taken part in a purging ritual known as Kambo.
A coronial inquest is investigating whether the practice, which uses poison from the Amazonian giant tree frog, caused Ms Lechner's sudden death at Mullumbimby in March 2019.
The 39-year-old had trained as a Kambo practitioner just two months earlier, and the court heard she had performed similar rituals up to a dozen times in the year leading up to her death.
Kambo devotees make small dot-like burns on their skin before applying the poison, which induces severe vomiting.
The process is claimed to rid the body of toxins, but Australian health authorities say there is no evidence to support that claim, and Kambo carries the risk of heart attack and damage to the liver and stomach.
'Her space, her altar'
A post-mortem examination found Ms Lechner had more than 60 burn lesions on her body, but the woman she was with at the time of her death said that "didn't sound like an outlandish amount".
"Natasha had quite a high threshold for the medicine," Victoria Sinclair said.
Ms Sinclair told the court she had previously treated Ms Lechner as a Kambo client, but on this occasion the roles were reversed.
"She had done her training, she was really in a way showing what she had learned," she said.
"It was her space, her altar.
"She designated where the medicine was put, and how much."
'She was in another state of being'
The court heard Ms Lechner reacted quickly after having the poison applied to five spots on her body, three on her chest and two on her inner wrist.
"She felt faint quite quickly and lay herself down in a semi-conscious position," she said.
"She was making little noises, she appeared to be processing something.
"It seemed like some rewiring was taking place, she was in another state of being."
The court was told Ms Sullivan did not have a phone with her, and chose to perform CPR rather than try to raise the alarm.
Another occupant of the house returned home a short time later and called an ambulance, which arrived within five minutes.
By that time Ms Lechner had died and could not be revived.
A perfect heart
The court heard the most likely cause of her death was an acute cardiac event.
Medical Director at the NSW Poisons Information Centre, Associate Professor Darren Roberts, said it was likely Kambo played a role in Ms Lechner's death, given the short period of time between when she took it and when she died.
"Tash had a perfect heart, there was no evidence of heart disease," he said.
The court heard Ms Lechner worked hard to maintain her health and saw Kambo as being complementary to mainstream medicine.
The use and supply of Kambo was legal in NSW at the time of Ms Lechner's death.
But since October 2021 it has been classified as a substance of "such danger to health as to warrant prohibition on sale, supply and use".
Associate Professor Roberts told the court there had also been moves in South America to limit the use of Kambo by tourists.
"This may have a role in traditional cultures, which is where it should be limited to," he said.
The inquest continues.
