The source of the river had been discovered by Rondon earlier, but it had never been fully explored or mapped. At the time of the expedition, Roosevelt was newly engaged to Belle Wyatt Willard, daughter of the U.S. ambassador to Spain. His mother Edith was concerned about her husband's health and the difficulties of a new expedition, and asked Kermit to accompany his father. He did so, reluctantly delaying his marriage. The scope of the expedition expanded beyond the original plans, leaving the participants inadequately prepared for a trip tracing the River of Doubt from its source through hundreds of kilometers of uncharted rainforest. The climate and terrain, inadequate gear and food, and two deaths (one drowning, the other murder) turned a scientific expedition into an ordeal. Roosevelt's father contracted malaria and a serious infection resulting from a minor leg wound, weakening him to the point that he considered taking a fatal dose of morphine rather than being a burden to his companions. Roosevelt told his father that he was bringing him back literally "dead or alive" and if he died, he would be an even bigger burden to the expedition. Although Roosevelt contracted malaria as well, he downplayed his sickness to save quinine for TR, nearly dying himself before the physician insisted on giving him the medication by injection. Roosevelt's determination and his rope- and canoe-handling skills were instrumental in saving his father's life. Nonetheless, TR was plagued by flareups of malaria and inflammation so severe that they required hospitalization. Besides the newly named Rio Roosevelt, one branch of the river was named the Rio Kermit in his honor. Today, the Rio Roosevelt is commonly called the Rio Teodoro by Portuguese-speaking Brazilians because of pronunciation difficulties they have with the name 'Roosevelt'. Although Kermit and TR faced skepticism about their claims of navigating a completely uncharted river over 1000 km long, they eventually silenced their critics through TR's oratory and one of his most popular books, Through the Brazilian Wilderness. The 1913–14 expedition was later recounted in The River of Doubt by Candice Millard (Doubleday 2005). Marriage and children After the Amazon trip, in 1914 Kermit married Belle Wyatt Willard (1892–1968), daughter of the U.S. Ambassador to Spain, Joseph Edward Willard. They had four children: Kermit Roosevelt Jr. (1916–2000), Joseph Willard Roosevelt (1918–2008), Belle Wyatt "Clochette" Roosevelt (1919–1985), and Dirck Roosevelt (1925–1953). His daughter, Clochette Roosevelt, married John Gorham