ALAINA ARNOLD, 2, was on a family vacation with her parents in Brazil when she came down with a sudden and serious illness, forcing the family to stay in Brazil several weeks longer than planned. Now friends and family are trying to help the family recover financially. .

By POLLY KEARY, Editor

A trip to Brazil that went from family reunion to nightmare when a little girl got mysteriously and gravely ill finally came to an end this weekend, when Alaina Arnold, 2, and her family, of Monroe came home.

But now the family is facing financial hardship as a result of the ordeal, and friends and co-workers are raising money to help them recover.
"Stacy [Arnold] started working with the Monroe Fire Department in 2003, said co-worker Pat Gjerde. "He and I went to high school together in Bothell in the class of '92, so I've known him since the '80s."

Arnold's wife Eloise was born on the Brazilian island of Floranopolis, where her parents maintained a condo. When her father died recently, the family gathered to scatter his ashes on Floranopolis, as was his wish.

It was an expensive trip for the family of four, so the Arnolds decided to make a vacation of it, and planned to stay a couple extra weeks and return mid-January.

After a week and a half in Brazil, little Alaina, 2, came down with what appeared to be the flu. "They went to a clinic, she didn't get better, they went again, and she didn't get better, " said Gjerde. "Her fever one night went to 106 degrees. They got a taxi and they wanted to go to a children's hospital, but the taxi, because of translation problems, took them to a university hospital."

It turned out to be a stroke of luck; the hospital was excellent, said Gjerde. They put Alaina on an I.V. right away, gave her antibiotics, and pulled her through the fever.

Then they started doing blood tests and other tests, such as an MRI, to try to identify the problem. "They found her organs were enlarged and she had a systemic infection," said Gjerde.

By then, people in the United States were learning of the Arnolds' plight and began to work to try to get them back to Seattle and its world renowned Children's Hospital. Communication with the family was difficult. They could not make outgoing calls on their cell phone, and their only internet service was at an internet cafe.

Supporters at home took the story to the media, and several local television and radio stations ran stories, in which friends pleaded for a doctor to volunteer to go down to Brazil and give the little girl a medical escort home. But by the time one could be found, doctors in Brazil discovered abscesses on Alaina's kidneys. The flight would be too dangerous for her, they said.

Then the family's only option was to continue the antibiotic treatments. And slowly, the treatment proved successful. "She was improving, getting her color back, getting playful," said Gjerde. "They decided to stay the course."

Early last week, Alaina was cleared from the hospital, and arrived home this weekend, where she went straight for the airport to the hospital for a check-up and follow up care. "I know she is in stable condition and wants to see her doggy and her friends," said Gjerde.

Saturday night, the workers at the fire station held a fundraiser with a silent auction, for which area businesses donated thousands of dollars of goods. The family was hit hard by medical expenses, phone costs at $5.20 per minute, and astronomical travel costs, including $1,500 for translation of medical documents and $1,200 in fax costs.

Friends and family are grateful that little Alaina is recovering well, said Gjerde. Now they hope to help the family recover, too. Anyone wishing to help the Arnold family can make a donation to "The Arnold Fund" at any branch of First Mutual Bank.