A New Zealand teacher has reportedly died days after becoming ill while on holiday in Samoa.
Justine Cameron, 62, who has taught at a number of Waikato schools, had been on the island of Savaii with her husband and other family members to celebrate her brother-in-law's 60th birthday when she became ill, the New Zealand Herald reports.
She complained of back pain on September 7. She rested and took medication but her condition quickly deteriorated and she was flown to Apia Hospital.
However, doctors were unable to find the source of her infection and she suffered organ failure and cardiac arrest. She died early on Tuesday.
Her husband John is devastated and has been left asking himself whether his wife may have survived had he taken her to a doctor sooner.
"But she never got sick, so the first 24 hours I just thought it's a flu bug, it's a pretty nasty one, but I've had the flu once in my life and I realise it's quite nasty when you get it," he said.
Mr Cameron described his wife as colourful, loving and bubbly.
An autopsy will be carried out on her body, which was returned to New Zealand on Tuesday, to determine the cause of death.
Mrs Cameron was an English teacher at Hamilton Girls' High School and has taught at Hillcrest High, Cambridge High, Te Kauwhata High and Waikato Diocesan School for Girls.
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