A dedicated mom died at sea after she drank her own urine in order to save her two children’s lives. The kids were reportedly found clinging to her lifeless body after she managed to save them by breastfeeding them when ther boat broke apart and they became shipwrecked. Mariely Chacón, 40, of Venezuela, may have lost her life, but her 6-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter thankfully survived, Newsweek reports.
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- The family was aboard the Thor on September 3. Chacón had gone out with her kids, her husband, and the family’s nanny on a pleasure cruise from Higuerote to Tortuga Island in the Caribbean. When a wave struck the boat, the hull broke apart and they spent four days on a lifeboat.
- Drinking her own urine allowed her to breastfeed the children. While the children, Jose David and Maria Beatriz Camblor Chacon, as well as 25-year-old nanny Verónica Martinez were eventually found alive and hiding in an empty icebox to avoid the sun, their mother died. Their father, Remis David Camblor, and the other people on board the vessel have not yet been found.
- Chacón suffered organ failure because of electrolyte depletion. This could have been accelerated by her breastfeeding, according to La Republica. The children were treated for dehydration and first-degree burns but were otherwise unharmed.
- The hero mom’s funeral was broadcast on YouTube. “The mother who died kept her children alive by breastfeeding them and drinking her own urine,” said a spokesperson for Venezuela’s National Maritime Authority INEA. “She died three or four hours before the rescue from dehydration after drinking no water for three days.” The service was held in Caracas on September 11 and streamed live online.
