The Schnaitseer family is now heavily in debt

By Karlheinz Kas

In distant Paraguay, 33-year-old Mathias Schifflechner from Schnaitsee (Traunstein district) spent nine weeks in the intensive care unit of a hospital for the poor after an accident. Now he has lost the fight and his family is now in debt.

First he was in a coma, then in a coma – the chances that he would ever be fully recovered were extremely slim. His mother stayed by his side every day, and his stepfather feared for him at home. But the young man lost the fight for survival: Mathias died on Thursday of organ failure. The treatment devoured thousands of euros: hospital stay, medication, lawyer and much more, the family had to pay for everything themselves, now there is also a costly transfer. The family living in Schnaitsee is now hoping for support from people back home.

At the beginning of the year, Mathias made the decision to emigrate to Paraguay. He was in contact with his uncle. He has been living in Gindi for two years, almost 100 kilometers from the capital Asuncion in the south of the country, which is larger than Germany in terms of area but only has a good seven million inhabitants. Hundreds of Germans emigrate there every year, according to official figures there were almost 4,700 between 2012 and 2021.
Mathias just wanted to leave, no longer felt comfortable in Schnaitsee and convinced his mother Angelika (56) and stepfather Uwe (52) of his plans. They finally agreed with a heavy heart, knowing that the boy was in the best hands with his uncle, his mother’s brother.

“He liked it, he was so positive”

In May, the ardent FC Bayern fan Mathias said goodbye and was well on the way to settling in in his new home. He was given a plot of land and wanted to start building his own home this year. “He liked it, he was so positive,” reports stepfather Uwe Wirth through tears.

Then came September 23, a Friday. Mathias was buckled up as a passenger with his uncle in a pick-up. Disaster struck at a crossroads. A truck hit the pick-up while turning. The uncle came to a private clinic with seven broken ribs and a shoulder blade fracture, Mathias to a so-called hospital for the poor. Reason: While the uncle had health insurance, Mathias had no insurance because he did not have a permanent job. As a trained mechatronics engineer, he always helped where he was needed. The diagnosis was devastating. The clinical report says: “Severe TCE after Glasgow, diffuse SAH in the left hemisphere, plus hemoventricle, plus fracture with sinking of the left frontal bone, injury to the closed thorax, fracture of the left collarbone.” In German: severe craniocerebral trauma – Mathias was more dead than alive.

Mother Angelika and stepfather Uwe Wirth took the next possible plane to Paraguay. While Uwe returned after five weeks to take care of private things as an early pensioner, the mother stayed with her son. This was also absolutely necessary, because in the hospital she had to take care of everything: buying bedding, doing laundry, supplementing the diet, getting medicine from the pharmacy and much more. She even had to take a mattress to the hospital. “If my wife hadn’t been there, Mathias would have been lost immediately,” says Uwe Wirth.

He’s been worried about his wife and son for the past few weeks. “She worked on the attack,” he reports, who corresponded with her daily. After an accident at work, he is still injured on his shoulder. Wirth described the conditions in the clinic as catastrophic, no doctor spoke German, and the intensive care unit was like a storage room. Angelika sat by her son’s bed every day and was with him in the last few minutes. Various operations were still planned. Every day she sent messages home with her mobile phone, for example: “Mathias has two sites of inflammation in the body, one in the lungs and one in the brain. And both urgently need to be removed. His condition is not improving. The doctor does not yet have his body under control, neither with movements nor with independent breathing. One cannot say whether and what damage he will retain and whether he will survive at all.”

Already second stroke of fate

When Uwe met Angelika, the boy was 15. It was that fateful year, 2005, when the family suffered the first serious blow. Uwe’s mother required nursing care as a result of two strokes. Her husband devotedly took care of her – with the bad end that he was completely overwhelmed with the situation. He caused the two-family house in Schnaitsee to explode, was seriously injured himself, but survived, unlike his wife. The 64-year-old was flown to a Munich clinic, but succumbed to her serious injuries there. Her husband recovered in a special clinic in Munich, but died voluntarily a year later.

“We rebuilt everything and felt very comfortable in Schnaitsee,” remembers Uwe Wirth, who is now at the end of his rope himself. Because: The treatment costs in Paraguay shot through the roof. And legally, the accident could not be processed, although a local lawyer takes care of everything. The police wanted to question Mathias – that’s no longer possible. To cover the running costs, the family took out a loan.

“The case makes me extremely sad, everything is also legally difficult,” says Schnaitsee Mayor Thomas Schmidinger. He assured, however, that the home community would help with the transfer. A social fund is also available for such cases. Rosi Schönhuber from the financial administration in Schnaitsee looks after him. “Now it’s about bringing Mathias’ body to Germany,” says Schönhuber. And: “In the case of emigration, no insurance applies, the family has to bear everything themselves.” The community must help there. The sympathy in and around Schnaitsee is great. Mathias’ circle of friends has already collected, with the proud result that 10,000 euros have been raised. Of course, they were intended for him to come back alive with a special machine. Further treatments and operations in Murnau Hospital were already being considered – everything has become obsolete. The municipality has set up a separate donation account for Mathias’ family. Anyone who wants to at least alleviate the financial worries of their mother and stepfather can donate to: “Donation for Mathias Schifflechner” at Sparkasse Wasserburg, IBAN DE75711526800030034631.

Mother Angelika has been caring for her son in the clinic since the accident and stayed by his side to the end.

A picture from happier days: Mathias Schifflechner – he was a fervent fan of FC Bayern Munich – with his grand cousin before emigrating to Paraguay. −Photos: private