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An elderly woman who survived a half-hour attack by hundreds of wasps is fighting for her life after the massive stroke that caused her to collapse on to the nest.
Mary Everitt, 85, has been treated for the wasp stings, but remains in Wairarapa Hospital because of the stroke's effects.
She's in a critical but stable condition. Her distraught son, Trevor Sayer, told the Herald on Sunday he could barely recognise her.
"We didn't see our mother, we saw someone else. It didn't look like our mum. The prognosis is not good, but we won't know until Monday," he said.
Everitt had been gardening when she suffered a stroke and collapsed on to the wasp nest. The furious wasps attacked. By the time Everitt raised the alarm with her MedicAlert bracelet she was covered in the insects.
Neighbours Jacqui Staats and Michael Hilhorst tried to help but the sheer number of wasps beat them back. Even the ambulance medics couldn't reach her.
It took two firefighters in full protective gear and breathing masks firing jets of water from a hose to force the wasps off her.
Senior firefighter Glenn Hudson said Everitt fell unconscious as soon as she was placed on the stretcher. Wasps continued to fly out of her hair and clothing even when she was in the hospital.
Sayer said the family was trying to support his mother as much as they could. He drove through the night from Auckland with his sister Trish Cameron.
Everitt can't speak but has shown signs of life. Her long-term partner Pat Shannahan, 90, said at times she seemed to be reliving the trauma. "She was waving her hands around as if she was warding [something] off - as if she was living through the wasps again."
Sayer said the family was emotionally drained. "We're still shattered really. We're just exhausted at the moment. But we're just trying to be by her side."
Cameron said her mother was covered in hundreds of pink and purple welts and the stroke had affected the right side of her face.
"She apparently had hundreds of stings one of the nurses counted. There were 50 on one shin alone."
But Cameron said she holding out hope that Everitt will pull through by tomorrow. "Mum is a fighter. She has always been very sprightly and active and because of Patrick she really loves life."
Sayer said Everitt was an outgoing woman but a stickler for detail. He said the incorrect reporting of her age, she's 85 not 87, would annoy her. "If she could talk she would probably tell you what she thought of that. She wouldn't be too impressed. She's a very private person. She would hate to think people are saying things out of turn.
"She's very caring but you would find out how grateful she was via other people. She found it hard to openly express her emotions."
Insect expert Ruud Kleinpaste said the wasps would have been enraged and not stopped attacking. He said she must have received about 500 stings because 1000 stings would have killed her.
"Being the creatures they are they will do everything they can to get you away from the nest. And if that means multiple stings and go and go and go, they will. They don't stop. The sting is powerful and it's designed to cause maximum deterrent to mammals."
Everitt had lived in Masterton all her life and was still an active member of the community as a life member of the RSA Women's Committee and a collector for the Child Cancer Society.
In recent years she had twice travelled with Shannahan to Australia and Norfolk Island as well as driving a campervan around New Zealand.
"She was a very independent person. She was very active for her age, drove a car, went to meetings," said Shannahan.
But Shannahan said he fears the stroke and the attack mean she will never regain her independence.
"She was a very healthy person, she was never sick. It makes it more of a disaster - if she was one of those people who sat around, but she wasn't. [But] she had complained about being tired in the days before this happened, so there were some indications things weren't right. It's a jolly shame."
