‘I survived snakes, piranhas and a flesh-eating parasite on my Amazon trek'
New UK|September 13, 2021
When a dream trip into the heart of the rainforest became a nightmare, adventurer Pip Stewart was left fighting for her life
KRISTEN JONES
‘I survived snakes, piranhas and a flesh-eating parasite on my Amazon trek'

Writer Pip, 36, lives in East Wittering with her partner Charlie, 38, a life coach, and their 18-month-old daughter, Willow.

Sitting with the doctor at London’s Hospital for Tropical Diseases, I braced myself for bad news. Then the doctor gave me his chilling verdict: “The flesh-eating disease you picked up from the Amazon will spread to your face, nose and mouth unless you have an aggressive form of chemotherapy.” I blinked in disbelief. It was 2018 and I’d just returned from the trip of a lifetime. I should have been looking through my holiday snaps, not sitting there thinking about a life-threatening illness.

Adventure had been in my blood from childhood. My family moved every three years with my dad’s work in the Forces and I got such a buzz from all the new experiences. I was 28 when, in 2013, I cycled from Malaysia to my home in London, covering 10,000 miles and 26 countries in a year. Three years later I embarked on a 3,000-mile cycle, boat and plane journey in Brazil and Peru, documenting deforestation and its devastating effect on indigenous people.

But it was in 2017 when I was working as adventure editor for Red Bull that I got a call from my friend, Laura Begum, and signed up to do the most extreme trip of my life – kayaking from the source of the Essequibo River in Guyana to the Atlantic Ocean.

“It will be like an animal version of Disneyland on speed,” she promised. How could I resist?

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة September 13, 2021 من New UK.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة September 13, 2021 من New UK.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

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