Two Durangoans were seriously injured in Myanmar while on a humanitarian mission, and they now are back home to heal.
Sandy Bielenberg and Tricia Karpfen were in the Southeast Asian country, formerly called Burma, to visit several villages being helped by the Shanta Foundation, which Karpfen co-founded with her husband, Mike. He and Durangoan Tom Cheatham also were involved in the accident, but Mike Karpfen escaped with bumps and bruises and Cheatham the same, although he also required a few stitches.
“We were in a bad truck accident today, Nov. 9,” Bielenberg emailed friends. “Brakes failed. Run out into a steep field, hitting two trees.”
In addition to the Durangoans, several members of Shanta Foundation’s in-country staff, including director Nge Nge, also were in the truck, which was headed to one of the new villages Shanta is adding to its program this year. None was seriously injured except Nge Nge, who had a cervical fracture that left her with limited movement in her arms and paralysis in her right hand.
“It could have been so much worse,” Cheatham said. “If the truck had flipped or rolled over, we would probably not have survived.”
Mike Karpfen took on the task of dealing with the logistics, second opinions from expatriate doctors and countless other details. Those included having Bielenberg, Karpfen and Nge Nge airlifted from a very basic government hospital in Taunggyi, a state capital in the countryside, to private Victoria Hospital in the country’s capital, Yangon.
“Everyone’s spirits (except Nge Nge’s) are pretty good,” Karpfen said from Yangon. “Since I’m the healthy one, I’ve become everyone’s slave. Not a bad role for three pretty women.”
The two Durango women flew back to the United States, arriving Thursday night after flying home in business class, where they could fully recline the seats.
Bielenberg suffered a compression fracture of the L1 vertebra, a broken rib and a broken big toe on her left foot. She’ll be in a back brace for at least six weeks, but doctors are predicting a full recovery.
Tricia Karpfen also suffered back injuries, four broken vertebrae in the lumbar region and required four stitches in her scalp.
“I’m doing miraculously well,” she said Tuesday evening. “The doctor told me to use the pain as my guide, but I should be fine.”
Nge Nge was flown to Bangkok during the weekend and underwent spinal surgery Monday. Mike Karpfen is there with her and said the doctor estimates it will take one to three years to see how fully she will recover, but that she should reach at least 90 percent capability.
“If Mike hadn’t been uninjured, it would have been catastrophic for Nge Nge,” Tricia Karpfen said. “He made them stabilize her and carry her on a board instead of just loading her into a tarp.”
Cheatham said the miracles continued considering how basic the care was at that first government hospital.
“The X-ray machine was 50 years old, and they didn’t take any safety precautions when using it,” he said. “They were twisting Nge Nge’s neck, and I can still remember her screaming.”
Bielenberg was in Cambodia with the Global Dental Relief Project, an organization her friend, the late Tom Grams had worked with on 24 missions, and she had agreed to meet the Karpfens and Cheatham in Myanmar to serve as the scribe and document Shanta’s meetings with the new villages. She was the only one who had trip insurance, which was required by Global Dental.
“It’s heartening to know the work will go on,” Tricia Karpfen said. “Two program managers took the bus overnight to Yangon to see Nge Nge and tell us they were going to go ahead with the projects we had planned.”
abutler@durangoherald.com
To donate
Because there is no health insurance and limited medical care in Myanmar, Nge Nge, Shanta Foundation’s in-country director, was flown to Bangkok for surgery to stabilize her cervical fracture. Shanta Foundation is working to raise the estimated $40,000 her care will cost.
Donations may be sent to Shanta Foundation, P.O. Box 1603, Durango, CO 81302, with NN in the memo line; or online at www.shantafoundation.org.
Many Durangoans met Nge Nge when she was in town in 2012 to speak at a Shanta fundraiser. Emails of support may be sent to her c/o Mike Karpfen at mike@durango.net.
