{"id":494589,"date":"2026-06-25T08:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T08:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/494589\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T08:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T08:47:09","slug":"givealittle-set-up-for-porirua-teen-ashen-as-he-fights-meningitis-in-bali","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/494589\/","title":{"rendered":"Givealittle set up for Porirua teen Ashen as he fights meningitis in Bali"},"content":{"rendered":"

The travel insurance only covers one parent to stay in Bali with Ashen.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnderstandably neither of them are going to leave their son, or each other, at this time,\u201d Lyons said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis wh\u0101nau are so incredibly selfless and loving, and it\u2019s their turn to accept some help to cover the expenses of staying in Bali<\/a> so that they can just focus on Ashen without the added stress of this financial burden.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doctors told the family Ashen had bacterial meningitis caused by undercooked pork, the page says. He is now also fighting pneumonia and has an upper gastrointestinal tract bleed from a stomach ulcer.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeurology have told the family that the brain swelling is severe, and it is too early to tell if this will cause permanent damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next few days are critical, but he\u2019s a strong dude, and is so wrapped in love, strength and prayers.\u201d<\/p>\n

An update to the page said it\u2019s still \u201cvery early days\u201d but described him waking from the coma as \u201cincredible\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAshen and his whanau still have a way to go, but this is a huge step towards getting him back home to New Zealand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Videos have shown the teen smiling, nodding and talking, although he remains critical in the intensive-care unit.<\/p>\n

Melissa Nightingale<\/a> is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 12 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The travel insurance only covers one parent to stay in Bali with Ashen. \u201cUnderstandably neither of them are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494590,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,806,247623,247624,21211,31272,13633,94411,2837,32255,51175,2082,71,49475,692,78,94410,6453,33555,111,43,139,69,29462,1551,5163,4054,1315,810],"class_list":["post-494589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-after","tag-as","tag-ashen","tag-awoken","tag-bacterial","tag-bali","tag-catching","tag-coma","tag-during","tag-familys","tag-fights","tag-for","tag-from","tag-givealittle","tag-he","tag-in","tag-induced","tag-lifetime","tag-meningitis","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-porirua","tag-set","tag-teen","tag-teenager","tag-trip","tag-up"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}