Buenos Aires, January 30 (NA) – Christian Petersen spoke for the first time in depth about the serious health episode he suffered during an excursion to the Lanín volcano, in Neuquén, which kept him hospitalized in intensive care for 26 days. According to what Noticias Argentinas agency learned, the incident occurred on December 18, when the chef suffered a multi-organ failure while ascending. In a recent interview with the newspaper La Nación, the cook reconstructed what happened step by step and explained that his collapse was the result of a combination of physical and emotional factors. He recounted that he had traveled to San Martín de los Andes to visit a relative and decided to join the ascent to the volcano, despite having no mountaineering experience. Halfway through the journey, he noticed that the situation was not what he had imagined and decided to descend before reaching the summit. In this context, he acknowledged that he was going through a period of high personal stress, marked by the recent death of a partner, work conflicts, and a history of panic attacks. After the descent, he was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, and upon detecting a severe arrhythmia, doctors decided to perform emergency surgery: “They medicated me, and from there, there are almost 30 days that I don't remember anything.” Petersen woke up at the Alemán Hospital, in Buenos Aires, surrounded by his family, and that was when he became aware of the severity of his condition and the vital risk he had faced: “They told me I almost died. I woke up with a great desire to live.” Doctors determined that his condition was caused by the accumulation of multiple causes: a previous poisoning contracted in Brazil, which could have been dengue or Zika, a heart virus, the beginning of pneumonia, extreme stress, and physical exertion in the mountains. In another part of his testimony, the chef firmly referred to the versions that circulated on social networks and some media, where insinuated a supposed drug consumption during the excursion. “They say horrible things that are not true. I have to be a better friend to myself.” He also denied having acted irresponsibly during the ascent and rejected versions that accused him of arrogant attitudes or of having put the group at risk. After being discharged, he said he could barely walk and suffered tremors in one of his hands, although today he is in a full rehabilitation process, gradually recovering his physical strength and re-educating his muscles and neurons.
Finally, the chef acknowledged errors and learnings: “This experience taught me to listen more to my family, to take care of myself, and to go slower.”
