When Norsewood's Lyn McConchie was taken into hospital suddenly on the morning of Saturday, October 21 she didn't have time to let her Canadian friend know what had happened.
"Sharman Horwood and I keep in touch regularly through emails and phone calls, so when Sharman began phoning and phoning and then phoning a friend, who didn't answer either, she began to panic," Lyn said.
"She had a mental picture of me lying on the floor decomposing."
After days of being unable to make contact with her Norsewood friend and fellow writer, Sharman was desperate and phoned the New Zealand Police.
"She struck a wonderful lady who agreed something could be done to try and track me down," Lyn said.
Sharman has visited Lyn in Norsewood for the past 30 years and when asked which hospital, if any, her friend could have been taken to, she said Dannevirke or Palmerston North.