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A severe health emergency has upstaged a trip-in-a-lifetime for an east Auckland actress.
The dramatic incident led her mother to drop everything and get on the first available flight to California, via Hawaii, to be at her daughter’s hospital bedside.
Freya Newbould was in the United States representing New Zealand as a performance artist when she was struck down by appendicitis.
It’s a serious illness and urgent medical treatment is required, often leading to the surgical removal of the appendix.
When the Times talked with Freya and her mother, Carin Newbould, Mum said: “It was more of a drama than the actual drama you were meant to be doing.”
The 18-year-old, who has been involved in the performance arts since she was a child, has a “specific interest in acting” and enjoys musical theatre, which she’s “been doing pretty much my entire life”.
Her bout of appendicitis occurred on a special trip to the US as part of a New Zealand team attending and performing at The Junior Theatre Festival.
Every year, New Zealand sends a company to the US and this year it was being held in Sacramento, the state capital of California – JTF West, with 2000 participants, mostly American teenagers under 18.
Auditioning to be selected for the New Zealand troupe took place 18 months before the tour in late January-early February.
“It was performers from all over New Zealand who came together to create a company for this specific event,” Carin says.
Wintry, exciting New York City was the first destination for six days before heading west to Sacramento via San Francisco where she first started feeling ill.
It was early morning of the day of the planned three-hour bus journey to Sacramento.
“When I woke up at 5am, I had pretty bad stomach pains. That pain you get when you’re really hungry,” says Freya.
By the time the group got on the bus, Freya, who had eaten a little and taken painkillers, had “a really bad stomach ache, but it was just above my belly. A strong pain”, she says.
“I ended up throwing up the entire bus ride, for two-and-a-half hours straight.”
The sick feeling continued, and she’d become dehydrated. She made a call to Mum in Howick.
“I called to say it’s really hurting. And I’m never really sick. I’m someone who never misses things. If I’m feeling all right enough, I’ll go.
“When I called Mum and said I’m missing rehearsals, I feel so bad, she knew something was up.”
Carin suggested seeing a doctor, and liaising with the tour leaders and chaperones, they got Freya to a hospital where appendicitis was diagnosed, and surgery scheduled for the next day.
“I was hoping they were going to tell me I could go home and then they told me that,” Freya says.
“I was like, ‘oh my gosh, it’s the worst timing”. I was scared I was going to die from surgery, as I’d never had surgery before. And it’s in a different country and my parents aren’t here.
“I was so shocked. Tears were running down my face. It was a really strange thing and it happened really quick.
“Luckily, they caught it, because the surgeon said usually with appendicitis it bursts on the third day of pains.”
Carin’s dash to be with Freya took her first to Honolulu, after she quickly booked air flights, “threw some clothes in a bag, and I was out of the house in half an hour”.
Once in Hawaii, where she had a five-hour layover, she was able to talk with her hospitalised daughter on the phone.
The surgery took place while Carin was on the five-hour flight to Sacramento.
They’re grateful for the care shown by the New Zealand team’s chaperones who took turns at being with Freya until Carin got there.
Travel insurance is very important to have when in the United States, where accessing healthcare can be difficult and expensive, especially in an emergency.
“The first thing they did before they’d even see her was to ask what her insurance was,” Carin says.
“So, I was on the phone and on my computer sending the forms to the chaperones to fill in.”
It turned out that Freya’s travel insurance covered treatment for her medical emergency – “all the times I’ve got it and never claimed on it, so, thank goodness”, Carin says.
“Because it was very straightforward surgery, they don’t keep you in. I arrived late at night, about four hours after she’d had surgery, and they said we’re going to discharge her the next day.”
Carin then had to find hotel accommodation and for Freya’s recovery, and the surgeon didn’t want her to fly for at least a week, because California to New Zealand “is a long flight”.
“That was the problem. In the days after I’d been released from the hospital in the hotel, I was just sleeping the entire time. My body was recovering, and I was on strong painkillers,” Freya says.
Meanwhile, Carin was dealing with the insurance company and getting local California doctors’ reports to confirm Freya was not yet able to travel back to Auckland.
After a week’s convalescence, Freya and Carin made it safely home.
As the Times talked with her and Carin, she showed us a heartfelt video from JTF West with the 2000 young performance artists sending her a message in vocal unison: “We love you, Freya!”
She can’t go back this year to JTF in the US because she’s now too old.
“At least I got to experience it and was the only person who was on the trip whose ended up having surgery. It’s a unique story,” Freya says.
“It was very good that we had travel insurance, and I had someone who could support me, and Mum was in a situation when she could drop everything and come and help.
“I feel very lucky and unlucky at the same time. It could have been a lot worse.”
Freya missed all the interesting, planned activities on the Kiwis’ California leg of the JTF tour, but “we got to see snow” and had a very busy schedule in NYC, the world-famous performance arts city.
They learned the material and rehearsed for the 15-minute performance they were to do at JTF West, in a building where rehearsals are held for Broadway shows.
“It was cool to be in that environment.” The Big Apple leg also took in a viewing of a new musical, The Outsiders, and they workshopped one of its songs and routines.
Freya’s attended the JTF in New Zealand for the past four years and was in the national group that went to the JTF in Australia two years ago.
“I really enjoy it. It’s a fun way to meet new people from all over the country.”
The talented teenager’s very experienced, having done more than 50 “lots of different shows all around Auckland”.
“Every show’s different. Not even because of the content but it’s the people you’re working with, the things that you learn, and the creative team – the directors and musical directors you work with. You learn from everyone.
“It’s something I want to make into a career.”
Freya’s now on a gap year after graduating from Howick College at the end of 2024, taking time to learn more about the craft of acting and attending workshops, including one next month on screen acting taken by Dame Miranda Harcourt, and back to America to be a camp counsellor.
