It was a trip that was a year in the making. But ultimately it wasn't meant to be.

Ms Junni Hansen, 33, who was on her way from Denmark to Manado, Indonesia, fell seriously ill on the flight. When she landed here in transit on 4 Aug, she was whisked off to Changi General Hospital, where she was kept sedated for two weeks while doctors battled to save her life.

She is one of the more than 100 transit passengers a year who are taken to CGH for treatment.

CGH, which is the closest hospital to Changi Airport, has a department called International Medical Services to cater to such cases.

Its officers, who deal with foreign patients coming here for treatment, also help those like Ms Hansen.

They call up the patients' insurance companies, change flight bookings, help family members to get hotel rooms and so on. (See report below.)

Pneumonia

Ms Hansen, a teacher, developed pneumonia about six hours into her Singapore Airlines flight from Copenhagen. She started having severe chest pains and breathing difficulties. She declined the oxygen offered by flight attendants and tried to sleep it off.

By the time the plane touched down at Changi Airport, Ms Hansen was in a bad way. She was in so much pain that today she remembers only vaguely how she was taken to CGH in an ambulance.

'I remember getting into the ambulance. And I remember the doctors at the hospital telling me it wasn't H1N1. And I remember them telling me it was pneumonia,' she told The New Paper earlier this week.

'After that, they intubated me and then I don't remember much.'

In intubation, a tube is inserted through the mouth or nose into the lungs to help the patient breathe. MsHansen was then put on life support.

Said Dr J Raghuram, head and senior consultant at the Division of Respiratory Medicine at CGH: 'She was in shock. She needed to be put on life support right from the early part of her stay in hospital.'

More problems cropped up. Pus from her lungs clogged the top of the tubes which were meant drain it.

Doctors offered her and her husband, Mr Ricky Williamson, the option of surgery to remove the pus.

Said Mr Williamson, 47: 'At the last minute, I decided to join her on the trip to Manado. So I had to take another flight. When I landed in Kuala Lumpur, I received a call informing me of my wife's condition.'

The money broker flew to Singapore and went straight to CGH, where he was 'pretty shocked'.

'You don't know what it's like until you walk into the intensive care unit and you see all these tubes and pipes connected to your wife and the alarm bells ringing all the time,' he said.

Mr Williamson, who agreed to the surgery, said: 'It was major surgery and we were worried.'

Ms Hansen's mother also flew in to be with her.

After the operation, they were relieved to know that she was pulling through.

'I had some company when my mother-in-law was here. Otherwise, I was alone and there is not much to do in Singapore after you've seen the Night Safari and Sentosa,' said Mr Williamson.

A doctor at CGH, Dr John Lau, lent him a set of golf clubs. 'That was great. I managed to get the odd round of golf in at Sentosa,' Mr Williamson said.

Ms Hansen was discharged on 27 Aug.

She said: 'I'm still feeling weak but I'll continue to get better. My holiday plans of travelling in the Sulawesi region of Indonesia have been shelved.'

The diving enthusiast and shutterbug had wanted to take part in an underwater photography competition in Manado. She had booked the trip almost as soon as she heard about it from a diving friend, about a year ago, and had been looking forward to it since then.

Mr Williamson added: 'I'm just glad this happened when she was in Singapore. I wouldn't know what we would have done if it had happened in Sulawesi.

'We probably would have been airlifted back to Singapore, which would have added more stress.'

Since her discharge, Ms Hansen has also been to the Night Safari and Sentosa.

The couple are scheduled to fly home to Copenhagen today.

'I just want to get home as soon as possible and be around friends and family and recuperate,' said MsHansen.

Mr Williamson estimated his wife's hospital stay and his hotel bills, which are covered by insurance, came to about $50,000.

This article was first published in The New Paper.