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Stowe man with H1N1 fighting for life

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  • Stowe man with H1N1 fighting for life

    What started as a typical winter illness quickly turned life-threatening for Jason Kirchick, Stowe resident, Stowe Rescue volunteer and former marketing director at the Round Hearth. After several days of high fever and vomiting, Jason was admitted to Copley Hospital in Morrisville. Medical staff quickly determined that Jason?s lungs were not adequately oxygenating his body, he was badly dehydrated and his condition was rapidly deteriorating. The date was Jan. 31.

    After two days at Copley, Jason was transported to Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington. He was quickly sedated, intubated and put on paralytics to allow his body to concentrate oxygen to his organs. Within a day, in-room dialysis was deemed necessary to do the job his kidneys normally would, as were ?pressers? ? blood pressure meds that keep blood pressure at a healthy level.

    In a few days? time, the diagnosis came in: Jason had contracted H1N1 influenza ? a potentially deadly infection, which, being viral, does not respond to antibiotics. He had not gotten a flu shot. His flu led to pneumonia, then adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and septic shock.

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