Volunteers who had been celebrating the Sunday rescue of a missing tourist were mourning her yesterday morning. Sherene “Sherry” Petersen, 68, of Missoula, Montana arrived in the territory Friday with her husband Roger. She went missing hours later, but was pulled from the bush alert and seemingly with only minor injuries Sunday afternoon.
After being transported to Peebles Hospital, Ms. Petersen slipped briefly into a coma Monday morning. By the afternoon, she’d awakened and was expected to recover. Doctors planned to move Ms. Petersen to a hospital in Puerto Rico for further treatment as soon as she was more stable, but she died yesterday morning.
Ms. Petersen, who had early onset Alzheimer’s Disease, had been stuck in the bush near lower Hope Hill with her legs trapped between a rock and a tree, and spent hours at a 60-degree incline with her head facing down, said Cat Clayton, who, along with her mother Cindy, helped raise the alarm after the woman wandered away from their Tamarind Club.
Ms. Petersen was alert when police and volunteer searchers found her Sunday afternoon, but the blood had drained away from her legs.
Combined with high blood pressure, the stress of the incline caused her kidneys to fail, Cindy Clayton said. Doctors had said that Ms. Petersen was likely to make a full recovery after undergoing dialysis treatment, she said.
See the March 1, 2012 edition for full coverage.