Two children are alive today because of the sacrifice their mother made. After the family had been shipwrecked, the mother went to extreme measures to keep her children alive. The shipwrecked mother saved her children by breastfeeding them, but unfortunately, doctors believe she herself died as a result.
How the Shipwrecked Mother Saved Her Children With Breastfeeding
Humberto Chacon, father of the heroic shipwrecked mother, Mariely Chacon, told reporters that his daughter’s family was just taking “a family trip to entertain the children” when the worst happened.
Mariely, her husband, Remis Clambor, the couple’s two children, their nanny, and a couple of their friends were on a pleasure cruise that was supposed to be travelling from Higuerote, Venezuela to Tortuga Island. But Thor, the vessel they were on, was damaged by a large wave that caused the hull to split. The damage caused an electrical fault, and the boat became shipwrecked. The Venezuelan family, along with their nanny, Verónica Martinez, 25, and the four other passengers were left stranded and exposed to the sun and other elements for days.
Twitter posts out of Venezuela showed images of the family as they were found, drifting near the coast of La Orchila.
#7Sep ¡Búsqueda y Salvamento!
Mantenemos activo el caso SAR 024 para encontrar a los 8 pasajeros de la lancha a motor que zarpó desde #Higuerote hasta La Tortuga. Hasta el momento se han rescatado 4 personas, quienes fueron trasladados a la Base naval de La Orchila.@HAbreuMRT pic.twitter.com/cc5AUjOr0L
— INEA (@inea_venezuela) September 7, 2021
But it appears that 40-year-old Mariely Chacon didn’t give up amidst the seemingly hopeless circumstances. Knowing her son, 6, and daughter, 2, would become dehydrated, the shipwrecked mother took to drinking her own urine and breastfeeding the children to keep them hydrated. Drifting for four days on a small life raft with their mother, the two children survived and were found holding onto their mother’s dead body. The children were taken to Caracas, where they were treated at a clinic for dehydration, first-degree burns from the sun, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Martinez, the family’s nanny, was found inside an empty icebox and taken to the hospital, also for dehydration, post-traumatic stress disorder, and lethargy. According to medical professionals, Martinez had to be sedated due to the trauma on her system. The hospital worked to address her sunburn, fever, low blood pressure, and rapid heartbeat.
A Twitter post out of Venezuela showed images of Martinez being taken into emergency care.
Con el apoyo de @AB_Guardacostas, @capiptolaguaira y los Bomberos Marinos fueron trasladadas, atendidas con primeros auxilios e ingresadas al Periférico de Pariata en La Guaira las personas encontradas en alta mar este martes.#LaTortuga #Higuerote pic.twitter.com/R4DVBHYP8L
— INEA (@inea_venezuela) September 8, 2021
Reports across Venezuela rang out, given that four of the passengers were still missing, including Remis Clambro, Jose Marcano, Alejandro Osorio, and Vianney Dos Santos. Officials were doubtful that the other bodies would ever be found due to the time that had lapsed and the vastness of the ocean.
Forensic doctors found that the shipwrecked mother probably didn’t survive because of the breastfeeding. Apparently, she had suffered from heat stroke and dehydration; electrolyte depletion caused Mariely’s organs to collapse. Officials also confirmed that the shipwrecked mother had succeeded in keeping her children alive by the breastfeeding.
“The mother who died kept her children alive by breastfeeding them and drinking her own urine,” explained an INEA spokesman. “She died three or four hours before the rescue from dehydration after drinking no water for three days.”
Needlessly to say, the public was heartbroken, as well as heartened by the mother’s heroic act.