Whitsundays Irukandji nightmare for young girl, 13

A young girl stung by a deadly jellyfish in the Whitsundays has revealed what it was like to endure the ‘next-level’ agony, as swimmers are warned they’re playing ‘Russian roulette’.

Tiahnna Malley, 13, from Bungendore was stung on her hand by a poisonous jellyfish at Grays Bay in Bowen on 29 December 2022 before being admitted to Bowen Hospital.

A 13-year-old girl who survived an Irukandji jellyfish sting in Bowen has revealed the agony she endured, as swimmers are warned they are playing ‘Russian roulette’ on the region’s beaches.

Tiahnna Malley said being stung by the deadly jellyfish left her in “next-level” pain that made her never want to swim at the beach again.

The teenager was in knee deep water with her dad and a friend at Grays Beach at 11.30am Thursday when she felt a “ting” on her finger.

“I kept swimming around for a little bit and then I started to feel weird,” Tiahnna said.

“I said to Dad, ‘let’s go’ and we went to go get food and then my whole body started cramping up.”

Mum Laura Malley said when her daughter complained of the pain she assumed it was a recurring kidney infection, so she took her to Bowen Hospital in the afternoon.

Tiahnna Malley, 13, from Bungendore was stung on her hand by a poisonous jellyfish at Grays Bay in Bowen on 29 December 2022 before being admitted to Bowen Hospital.

Tiahnna described the pain as “a stabbing feeling under the ribs.”

“It’s your whole body hurts, weird cramps all over your body, where your kidneys are,” she said.

Ms Malley said she now realised how lucky it was her daughter didn’t go into cardiac arrest.

“She kept asking, ‘Am I going to die? Am I going to die?” Ms Malley said.

“But the doctor explained the whole lot, and looked it up on Google Maps and knew the exact spot, the exact beach, and said there had been four kids stung the day before, so not to panic.

“And they put a heart monitor on her which she had to be on for six hours after her last pain.”

Tiahnna Malley, 13, from Bungendore was stung on her hand by a poisonous jellyfish at Grays Bay in Bowen on 29 December 2022 before being admitted to Bowen Hospital.

Ms Malley said the family lived in New South Wales and thought the area, which was bustling with children, would be a safe place to swim.

“There were little kids, big kids,” Ms Malley said.

“There was one family that did have stinger suits on, but we just thought it would be OK.

“You think it won’t happen to you. Well it does happen to you.”

Ms Malley said one doctor gave them a bittersweet message as the left the hospital, saying “Congratulations, you’re a local now you’ve survived the Irukadji sting.”

Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine Cairns Professor Jamie Seymour said swimming in the Whitsundays was “Russian roulette.”

Dr Jamie Seymour, Associate Professor for the Queensland Tropical Health Alliance at the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Cairns Campus, says swimming in the region’s water at this time of year was “Russian roulette”.

“(If) you want to go swimming down in Bowen this time of year without adequate protection like a stinger suit, it’s only a matter of when you’re going to get stung, not if,” Mr Seymour said.

“No one should be swimming in the water this time of year north of Fraser Island without stinger suits on.

“You’re silly if you do that,” he said.

Mr Seymour said while suits didn’t provide complete protection, they “reduced the risk by 80 per cent.”

“If you look at the numbers in Cairns, we have about 2 million people in the water a year and about 30-40 get stung,” he said.

“That’s 15 chances in a million you’ll get stung.

“With a stinger suit it’s about one chance in a million.

“There is a higher chance of being in a car accident than getting stung by a jellyfish if you have stinger suit on,” he said.

Ms Malley said the family had learnt a hard lesson.

“There is no way in hell we would ever go back in,” Ms Malley said.

“It’s enough to deter us for life.

“People need to know, it’s so scary,” she said.

Originally published as Whitsundays Irukandji nightmare for young girl, 13