Re: Franklin County has 1st swine-flu death
Source:
http://www.snponline.com/articles/2009/10/14/multiple_papers/news/allgcfluba_20091014_0301pm_1.txt
Benefit planned for flu victim's daughter
By KRISTIN CAMPBELL
Published: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 5:06 PM EDT
A week to the day after she was born by Caesarean section, Baby Ava lost her mother to H1N1.
Now friends, family and total strangers are banding together to provide for her future, to make her life a little easier, in spite of her tragic beginnings.
A benefit in Ava's honor will be held Oct. 18 in at the Derby Lounge in Grove City. The event will feature entertainment, kids' activities, a silent auction, raffles and live coverage of the Browns/Steelers football faceoff, with all proceeds going to a fund for Ava.
Baby Ava was born Aug. 27 to Kelsey White, a 2007 Westland High School graduate. At 31 weeks into her pregnancy, Kelsey fell ill with the flu.
After three days, she was hospitalized, and doctors diagnosed her with the H1N1 virus. In spite of 24-hour nursing and a variety of treatments, she had to be placed on a ventilator and a paralytic drug.
Kelsey's mother Cathy, Ava's grandmother, eventually made the decision to let doctors deliver Ava early.
"There was no question," Cathy said. "Ava was not in trouble. The doctors wanted to deliver her so they could treat Kelsey more effectively."
But in spite of the best efforts of the doctors, never came out from under the paralytic drugs that had been administered to keep her still and calm while she recovered. White died Sept. 3 , and Ava was met with a new set of challenges.
In spite of the fact that she had been born healthy and strong -- something doctors didn't expect -- and that she was gaining weight each day, Ava would now grow up never having known her mother -- she was quarantined and separated from her immediately after birth.
But Ava's story could have a happy ending. She now lives with her grandparents, who are raising her with help from Ava's father.
Cathy said she doesn't want Ava to grow up under a stigma because of cruel circumstance.
"I don't want people labeling her "the swine flu baby," she said. "I don't want people coming up to us in the grocery store and saying, 'Oh, you're those swine flu people.'"
Cathy said she doubts she could react kindly. So she focuses her efforts on raising Ava and trying to heal after the passing of her own child.
Cathy and her husband, White's stepfather, say they have the resources to raise the child. The money raised at the benefit will be saved for later to allow Ava to make whatever dreams she has come true, Cathy said.
"All this money is for her future," she said said.
"Kelsey worked two jobs since she was 15 years because she wanted more out of life. By the time Ava is college age, we'll be almost 70, and there's no way to know what kind financial position be in."
Family friend Aimee Myers is organizing the benefit along with her friend Angela Thum, who didn't know White. Together, the two women are logging hundreds of hours to put together a fundraiser that will provide for the needs of this baby as she reaches adulthood.
Myers said she is amazed at the response they've gotten so far.
"When something like this happens, you find out who your friends are and how generous people can be," she said. "I think we all realize that this could have been any of us."
Steve Sterrett and Diana Blakeman, proprietors of the Derby Lounge, have been invaluable, Myers said .They donated the site and are donating proceeds from the drink sales the day of the event.
Myers also said there has been a huge response from local businesses, which have donated hundreds of items, from T-shirts and banners advertising the event to raffle prizes and auction entries.
Among the items to be auctioned and raffled are a whitewater rafting trip with hotel accommodations, sports memorabilia, gift cards from dozens of restaurants and stores, DJ service, house cleaning, movie passes, car rentals, teeth whitening, rounds of golf, tools, car wash gift certificates, free pizza for a year and more.
Raffle tickets will be pulled as guests compete for best bid on the silent auction pages. Children will enjoy face painting, bounce houses and live entertainment while parents check out auction items and take in the football game.
Ava will stay home during the event -- her family is very conscious of flu season and of exposing her to morbid curiosity -- but even without her presence, the atmosphere will be one of excitement and joy. It will be a celebration of White's life, of Ava's new beginning and of a community coming together to support a family that has been through terrible hardship, Myers said.
Cathy, Kelsey's mother, said she thinks the turnout will be strong because of the helping nature of the community and because White was the kind of person who inspired love.
"As you can tell by the response it's gotten so far, Kelsey was a very good friend to her friends," she said.
For the Love of Kelsey: A Benefit for Baby Ava will be held from 1-4 p.m. Oct. 18 at the Derby Lounge, 2209 Stringtown Road.
"When something like this
happens, you find out who your friends are and how generous people can be ...I think we all
realize that this could have been any of us."
--Aimee Myers
