Re: Indiana/Ohio: Doctors investigating H1N1 death of man and critical illness of his sister
Re: Indiana/Ohio: Doctors investigating H1N1 death of man and critical illness of his sister
I found this article while looking for new ones - it's from Tues., July 7 and includes some new info:
http://thejournal-press.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4666&Itemid=104
Mysterious illness kills Moores Hill musician
By Erika Schmidt Russell
News Editor
Matthew ?Skinny? McIntosh was a young man who had his life before him. He loved music and food, food and music, according to his MySpace page and his mother Katrina McIntosh.
He died of unknown causes Sunday, July 5, less than a month before his 20th birthday.
?He was my baby,? said his mother.
?Skinny? as everyone knew him was the drummer of the increasingly popular band Strange on Display. A 2008 graduate of South Dearborn High School,
the teen became ill Wednesday, June 24, with a fever, said Katrina McIntosh, Moores Hill.
He and the band played a graduation party Saturday, June 27.
?He called me and asked me to come get him. He said he didn?t feel good. He said he just wanted to sleep,? she said.
The next morning he was coughing and she tried to convince him to go to the hospital. ?And he still was telling me he wanted to sleep. Then he coughed up blood, and finally agreed to let me take him to the hospital,? she said.
He was in Dearborn County Hospital until Tuesday, June 30, when he was AirCared to University Hospital, Cincinnati.
His sister, Mindy, 26, meanwhile, also had been admitted to the hospital with similar symptoms. After being transferred to University, she was in a regular room for a day, then placed in the intensive care unit, where she has remained on a ventilator since Wednesday, July 1, said Katrina McIntosh.
?We haven?t told her. The doctors told us not to. They don?t think she could take it. Survivor?s guilt,? said McIntosh.
Any number of possible diagnosis have been brought up, tested for and then dismissed after tests came back negative, said McIntosh.
?They?ve tested for every kind of flu, and they?ve all been negative,? she said, adding doctors also considered ?that bird thingy? hystoplasmosis.
A doctor at Dearborn County Hospital told the family he had never seen anything move so fast, as it did in the McIntosh children.
Although rumors are circulating that the McIntoshes became ill after cleaning a barn at the Moores Hill family?s home, ?my husband is in there all the time. That?s where his tractor is, and he works on cars out there,? said McIntosh.
Meanwhile, fellow Strange on Display bandmate Kristine Spielmann also is in University Hospital along with her sister Regina.
The Spielmann girls are hospitalized as a precaution, and have tested positive for the flu, said their father Tom Spielmann.
?As long as nothing else materialized and she does OK, they said she could come home Wednesday,? he said.
Although she?s informed him that no matter what she will leave the hospital Thursday so she can attend McIntosh?s services Thursday night and Friday morning, said Tom Spielmann.
Kristine Spielmann along with Strange on Display bandmates Mike Dittmer and Jimmy Wenstrup were slated to play at the Aurora Firecracker Festival Saturday night, July 4, for an early show, and then at Riverhouse in Rising Sun. The firecracker festival was rained out, but the band played without Skinny at Riverhouse.
?It was hard. And they are going to retire the name Strange on Display,? and anything else, they don?t know, said Kristine Spielmann.
Doctors are continuing tests and trying to find common denominators between Skinny and Mindy. An autopsy on Skinny has been completed, ?but we don?t have any results back yet,? said Katrina McIntosh.
Dittmer and Wenstrup, like Katrina McIntosh, hope doctors can find out what killed Skinny so Mindy can be cured.
The bandmates are planning music - rock and roll of course - and are going to set up his drum kit at Skinny?s visitation, said Wenstrup.
Skinny came up with the band?s name when they signed up for a battle of the bands competition for the 2004 Lawrenceburg Fall Fest.
?We were on the phone signing up and they asked the band?s name and Mike was like ?what?s our name?? And Skinny just spouted it off,? said Wenstrup.
?He was like Animal from the Muppets. He just banged away at those drums,? said Wenstrup.
?He was just a big, ol? jiggly ball of fun,? said Dittmer.
The band won the ?04 Fall Fest battle, of course they had spent all summer together.
?We jammed, and ate pizza, and crashed on the living room floor and swam. It was great,? said Dittmer.
Skinny loved music and in the hospital managed to get across to his mom he wanted to listen to his iPod.
?He calmed down when the music came on, there was Coldplay on it and even some country music. He didn?t like country music, but it calmed him down,? said Katrina McIntosh, adding her son?s smile could light up a room.
His favorite bands were Alkaline Trio, The Doors, Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd and ?he was really into jazz and the blues,? said Wenstrup.
Skinny?s illness, hospitalization and death have been hard to deal with.
?I?m kind of confused ...? said Wenstrup.
?... Numb and lost too,? interrupted Dittmer. ?... But we?re hopeful....?
Dittmer and Wenstrup are planning a benefit for what would have been Skinny?s 20th birthday Saturday, Aug. 1. Look for details in upcoming editions of The Journal-Press and The Dearborn County Register. See a Strange on Display and Kristine Spielmann video at
www.thedcregister.com.
And the rain-delayed fireworks going off Sunday night, July 5, sounded like drumming from heaven.
I agree I feel like these people are my friends or family. I pray and hope for the recovery of mindy. 
The lack of information dissemination could cost people their lives.