Lake Worth Woman In ICU Battling H1N1 Virus

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.wpbf.com/news/20391396/detail.html

Lake Worth Woman In ICU Battling H1N1 Virus
Husband, Son Hope She'll Pull Through

POSTED: 8:38 pm EDT August 13, 2009
UPDATED: 9:01 pm EDT August 13, 2009

LAKE WORTH, Fla -- For the past month, Noah Frye and his dad, Jerry Frye, have been living on their own. The 10-year-old?s mother, Lori Frye, is in intensive care at Wellington Regional Medical Center.

"I feel sad because she's always been there for me and I usually see her every day," said Noah Frye.

She was admitted for a severe case of pneumonia. It turned out to be the H1N1 virus.

"It seems like a hard thing to fight and to get over once you have it,? explains husband, Jerry Frye. ?It seems like she's been struggling, trying to get her lungs cleared and breathe."

What started out as a cold turned serious. The virus attacked her lungs. She then developed an allergy to medication. Now a machine is breathing for her.

?They took her out of the induced coma and brought her back to where she can communicate. She has moved her eyes and seen us and she's moved her lips," said Frye.

For Noah, seeing his mother in the hospital is starting to take a toll. He told WPBF News, "It's just hard to see her with all the hives and stuff on her face and the trache."

Jerry and Lori have been married for 14 years. They had just celebrated her 40th birthday. The presents and thank you notes are still sitting on the table where Lori left them because Noah and Jerry say they?re hoping she'll pull through.

"My worst fear is if anything ever happened to her. Having to raise my son because she did so much for us," said Frye.

Now, the Fryes are feeling the financial stress over how to pay for Lori's care. Friends and members from their church have been pitching in to help as much as they can.

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: Lake Worth Woman In ICU Battling H1N1 Virus

Surviving swine flu: Suburban Lake Worth family clings to a hymn of hope

By DIANNA SMITH

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Noah Frye wants to hear his mother sing again.

Her gentle voice often captivated congregations at First Baptist Church of Lantana where she sang about Jesus and prayer and hope. It greeted her 10-year-old son every morning and put him to sleep every night.

Hear Lori Frye sing (see link)

But Noah hasn't heard that voice since July. It's trapped inside Lori Frye's body, where the H1N1 pandemic flu strain invaded this summer, leaving Lori in a coma and her family in despair.

"She always helped me with my homework and she always tucked me into bed," he says. "I love her and I want her home."

Lori celebrated her 40th birthday just two weeks before she landed in Wellington Regional Medical Center. More than 100 people surprised her at the church hall that day and Noah surprised his mother by singing her a song. Not long after that, Lori's throat began to hurt. She got a fever, grew so weak she couldn't leave her bed and could no longer sip even water.

Doctors at a local clinic thought she had pneumonia. But her husband, Jerry, learned it was the swine flu after taking her to the medical center, where she spent four weeks in an induced coma.

"They told me she wasn't going to make it through the night ... to start preparing for things," Jerry, 46, says. The doctors told Jerry that on three occasions.

But Lori survived each time.

Last month, she woke from her coma.

And today she sits in Kindred Hospital of the Palm Beaches in Riviera Beach, a long-term acute care facility, where she was moved because doctors felt Lori was ready for intense physical therapy, as well as speech therapy.

Noah calls her a super mom. And Jerry calls her a living miracle.

"I was wondering if we would ever hear her talk again, sing again," he says. "Just for her to survive is a big accomplishment. She was a very sick woman."

Other swine flu cases

Lori is described as one of those people who others strive to be. Kind. Loyal. Caring. She made lunch bags for the homeless and was folding church bulletins the day she fell ill.

And when she arrived at Wellington medical center, she wasn't the only one there suffering from swine flu.

Aubrey Opdyke, 27, who was six months pregnant, was in an induced coma and eventually lost her premature baby girl. Opdyke is improving. A 42-year-old man was also being treated for the swine flu there. He later died.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported 593 confirmed swine flu-related deaths nationwide and Florida accounts for at least 70 of deaths. On Sept. 6, a 33-year-old woman was the sixth person to die of swine flu in Palm Beach County.

But, after being sick for eight weeks, Lori is expected to live.

When she came out of the coma, she stared at the hospital room.

"Where am I?" she asked. "Why am I here?"

Jerry explained what had happened and after he finished, Lori pleaded, "Why me?"

Financial worries, too

Though her throat is tired, Lori tries to talk softly when the nurses let her.

She asks about Noah's first day of school and Jerry's truck, which was stolen not long before she fell sick.

She worries about Jerry, he says, because she knows the family is struggling financially. Jerry owns his own landscaping business near their home in suburban Lake Worth but he hasn't taken on new jobs lately because he wants be there for his wife.

He estimates he's losing at least $2,000 a month. Lori's medical bills total way beyond $600,000.

They have insurance, but it's a limited policy, so First Baptist Church of Lantana is stepping in with a yard sale Saturday and a chicken dinner and a silent auction on Oct. 25, hoping to raise money for the family.

"She says, 'I'm really worried about you,' " Jerry says.

But all Jerry can worry about is Lori.

Progress, setbacks

On this mid-September day, Lori has a setback. Her face is worn. She looks like she's been up all night.

Though Jerry says the H1N1 strain has left her body, his wife is now struggling with pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome, which makes it difficult for Lori to breathe.

Noah and Jerry are told they have to wear masks and gowns now when they visit her.

"I'm getting drained watching it," Jerry says of Lori's good and bad days. "She doesn't realize how bad her body is."

But Noah does.

He tries not to focus much on his mother's condition during his after-school visits. Instead, he tells her about his day. Simple things like what he's learning in class and what he ate for lunch. He brings her homemade cards and tells her he loves her.

He reminds her she's getting better every day.

And though it's still a struggle for Lori to speak, he reassures her she will sing again.

That sweet, soft singing voice that used to wake him every morning and put him to sleep every night.

Noah believes he will hear it one day very soon.


http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localn...paper/2009/09/12/a1a_swine_flu_lori_0913.html

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: Lake Worth Woman In ICU Battling H1N1 Virus

Lake Worth Locals Raise Money For H1N1 Patient
Volunteers Hold Garage Sale To Help Pay Medical Expenses

POSTED: 7:59 pm EDT September 19, 2009

LAKE WORTH, Fla. -- Lake Worth residents held a fundraiser Saturday for a local woman diagnosed with the H1N1 virus, or swine flu.

Volunteers sold baked goods, household items, clothing and other items at a garage sale at the Baptist Church of Lantana to help Lori Frye and her family pay her mounting hospital bills.

Frye came down with the virus in July. Family members said she is improving every day. Frye is now off a ventilator and receiving therapy at a local rehab center, her mother-in-law said.

"She's talking good now. Sometimes she's a little hoarse," Sandra Frye said. "But she's doing real good. She's coming along with therapy. She has a problem with her right arm, and she's not up walking or anything like that."

Frye's husband said he was grateful for the help that friends, family and complete strangers were giving.

"I would just like to really thank them, because this has been a very huge event," Jerry Frye said. "I really want to thank them for their support during this time."

Volunteers also plan to hold a dinner and silent auction at the church on Oct. 25 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. to raise more funds.


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