Gert van der Hoek
In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator
Gauteng records first H1N1 death
2009-08-20 09:22
Pretoria - A father from Pretoria has spoken about his grief after his daughter died of H1N1 flu earlier this week.
"My baby girl was right all along, she didn't make her 21st birthday," said Christo Pretorius, 52, from Andeon, east of Pretoria, on Wednesday following the death of his daughter Annique, 20.
Annique - the first confirmed H1N1 flu death in Gauteng - started feeling ill on August 8.
"She was nauseous and her body ached. Kids can be overly dramatic sometimes, and at first I thought she was heating up her thermometer, but when I took her temperature, it was almost 40ºC."
'Daddy, I love you'
A day later she was admitted to the Pretoria West state hospital, where a doctor suspected H1N1 flu.
Apparently she felt even worse the next morning, but was discharged on August 11.
"She told me that she wouldn't be home on her 21st birthday, on August 31. I told her that was nonsense."
Pretorius took her back to the hospital that same night, since her fever was apparently still around 40ºC, and she was tested for H1N1 flu the next day.
On Friday, (august 14, ed) Annique started having difficulty breathing, and X-rays were taken of her lungs. "The one lung was three-quarters white and the other was covered in spots."
Rushed to hospital
"She phoned me at 01:00 on Saturday and said: 'Daddy, I love you'. I told her she should rest, and when I phoned her again at 06:00, her phone just kept ringing.
"I phoned the ward and the nurses told me she was sleeping. I phoned again and asked them to wake her. Shortly afterwards the nurse asked that I ring back in 15 minutes, since there was a problem."
Pretorius immediately rushed to the hospital. "When we got there they were busy putting a tube down her throat and fluid was running out of the tube."
She was transferred to Kalafong hospital later that morning, where she was given oxygen.
"She pulled the tubes out. They stabilised her, but after that her eyes never opened again."
Seventh fatality
On Monday, the test results confirmed H1N1 flu.
Treatment was stopped on Tuesday afternoon, (august 18, ed) because her brain had stopped functioning. Her kidneys and lungs were also failing.
"This thing is getting to me. You wonder why it wasn't rather one of us older people. I had a pink coffin made for her, and the money I would have spent on her 21st birthday will now pay for her funeral."
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) confirmed on Wednesday that Annique was the first H1N1 flu death in Gauteng, and the seventh fatality in the country.
According to Pretorius, she had no underlying illnesses.
http://www.news24.com/Content/World...8-2009 09-22/Gauteng_records_first_H1N1_death
2009-08-20 09:22
Pretoria - A father from Pretoria has spoken about his grief after his daughter died of H1N1 flu earlier this week.
"My baby girl was right all along, she didn't make her 21st birthday," said Christo Pretorius, 52, from Andeon, east of Pretoria, on Wednesday following the death of his daughter Annique, 20.
Annique - the first confirmed H1N1 flu death in Gauteng - started feeling ill on August 8.
"She was nauseous and her body ached. Kids can be overly dramatic sometimes, and at first I thought she was heating up her thermometer, but when I took her temperature, it was almost 40ºC."
'Daddy, I love you'
A day later she was admitted to the Pretoria West state hospital, where a doctor suspected H1N1 flu.
Apparently she felt even worse the next morning, but was discharged on August 11.
"She told me that she wouldn't be home on her 21st birthday, on August 31. I told her that was nonsense."
Pretorius took her back to the hospital that same night, since her fever was apparently still around 40ºC, and she was tested for H1N1 flu the next day.
On Friday, (august 14, ed) Annique started having difficulty breathing, and X-rays were taken of her lungs. "The one lung was three-quarters white and the other was covered in spots."
Rushed to hospital
"She phoned me at 01:00 on Saturday and said: 'Daddy, I love you'. I told her she should rest, and when I phoned her again at 06:00, her phone just kept ringing.
"I phoned the ward and the nurses told me she was sleeping. I phoned again and asked them to wake her. Shortly afterwards the nurse asked that I ring back in 15 minutes, since there was a problem."
Pretorius immediately rushed to the hospital. "When we got there they were busy putting a tube down her throat and fluid was running out of the tube."
She was transferred to Kalafong hospital later that morning, where she was given oxygen.
"She pulled the tubes out. They stabilised her, but after that her eyes never opened again."
Seventh fatality
On Monday, the test results confirmed H1N1 flu.
Treatment was stopped on Tuesday afternoon, (august 18, ed) because her brain had stopped functioning. Her kidneys and lungs were also failing.
"This thing is getting to me. You wonder why it wasn't rather one of us older people. I had a pink coffin made for her, and the money I would have spent on her 21st birthday will now pay for her funeral."
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) confirmed on Wednesday that Annique was the first H1N1 flu death in Gauteng, and the seventh fatality in the country.
According to Pretorius, she had no underlying illnesses.
http://www.news24.com/Content/World...8-2009 09-22/Gauteng_records_first_H1N1_death