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Australian fitness designer and online coach Khiana Smith spent more than a week bedridden in a Bali hospital, including time in an intensive care unit, after contracting a serious bacterial infection. She was unable to return home to Australia due to her health.
Smith, known on TikTok as @khianasmith, runs the fitness and nutrition company Her Method and updates her followers from her hospital bed. She told them that one minute she was healthy and traveling the world, and the next she was bedridden in intensive care with what she described as a brain infection that could have killed her.
As PerthNow reports, Smith’s ordeal began when she woke up with “the worst headache” and couldn’t get out of bed. Her symptoms escalated to extreme headaches, dizziness, slurred speech, blurred vision and severe sensitivity to light. An intravenous drip in her villa did not help and a doctor who examined her urgently called an ambulance.
She still doesn’t know how she contracted the infection.
Speaking from her intensive care bed, Smith said she had underestimated the severity of the situation. She was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis, a serious infection that inflames the protective membranes around the brain and spinal cord, and she also has pneumonia and fluid in her lungs. Without prompt treatment, bacterial meningitis can quickly become life-threatening.
Smith said she doesn’t know how she got the infection or why her condition worsened so quickly. The illness has also affected her memory and she says she now has difficulty remembering things.
Getting sick while traveling can complicate everything from communication to a hefty clinic bill on a cruise ship. For Smith, the language barrier has made it difficult to understand what’s going on with his condition. Although she says the medical team is doing their best, she described feeling like her entire life was in the hands of other people, with no clear answers.
“I feel absolutely helpless and I just want to go home,” she said. She was desperate to return to Australia, but was unable to fly due to her brain infection and concerns about cabin pressure.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, symptoms of bacterial meningitis can appear suddenly and often resemble a severe flu. Adults and older children may experience sudden high fever, severe headache, neck stiffness, nausea or vomiting, increased sensitivity to light, and confusion.
Her followers sent messages of support on her social media pages, with many asking when she could return home. One wrote: “Is there talk of taking you home? Another, who had also spent time in hospital, added: “Things are going to change, sending you so much healing and love. »
Smith then shared that she felt slightly better after getting out of bed and walking for the first time in over a week. Noting that she has always taken her health seriously by eating well and exercising regularly, she urged her followers to never take their lives or health for granted.
Gn Health
Published: November 1, 2026 at 2:15 p.m.