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H1N1 flu claims life of young mother who grew up on Yellow Quill First Nation
By Lori Coolican, Canwest News Service; Saskatchewan News NetworkJuly 14, 2009 11:09 AM
Vanessa Bluebell
Photograph by: Global Calgary, Calgary Herald files
The signs of a community in mourning for a young mother would not have been immediately obvious to anyone driving onto this First Nation Monday.
But inside the band hall, a subdued crowd of people who knew and loved 25-year-old Vanessa Bluebell sat on the floor with their food in front of them, partaking of a feast in her honour.
Bluebell's family members are not interested in speaking publicly about her life in the media, said her uncle, Leonard Basanapiness, who works at the reserve's small health centre.
A paper sign on the building's front door announces the cancellation of the First Nation's upcoming summer games, due to "pandemic."
Calgary newspapers have already published a story about his niece, Basanapiness said Monday.
"Let her rest in peace."
Bluebell, a mother of four who grew up at Yellow Quill and moved to Calgary about two years ago, died July 9 from the H1N1 flu. Health officials said she had no previously existing medical conditions that would have contributed to her death.
A friend, Stella Peeace, told Calgary reporters that Bluebell likely caught the deadly flu during a trip to Yellow Quill last month.
Peeace said she drove Bluebell and her children to the reserve for the June 10 funeral of a cousin who'd been killed in a car crash.
Peeace said Bluebell was already sick and "thought she had the flu" when she returned to Calgary on June 23. When her symptoms kept getting worse, Bluebell's husband called an ambulance on June 27.
Peeace said Bluebell was sent home with an inhaler from her first hospital visit, without being tested for the virus.
Two days later, her spouse called another ambulance. She was admitted to Calgary's Peter Lougheed Hospital June 29. Subsequent tests confirmed the flu, but she then fell into a coma and did not regain consciousness.
? Copyright (c) The Regina Leader-Post