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Source: http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20091212/ARTICLES/912119951/1004
Young Wilmington mother?s life lost to H1N1
By Vicky Eckenrode
Vicky.Eckenrode@StarNewsOnline.com
Published: Saturday, December 12, 2009 at 3:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, December 11, 2009 at 10:55 p.m.
When Tanya Marie Murray began feeling sick on Halloween, her family thought she had a bad flu.
It wasn?t until after multiple trips to the emergency department, eventually getting rushed to the intensive care unit and being put on a respirator that it became clear how serious Murray?s situation was.
Murray, a 30-year-old Wilmington resident, struggled in the ICU for days before dying Nov. 12 of complications related to the H1N1 virus.
?It?s not real, for someone so full of life and just so loving and so caring, and she?s just taken so quickly,? said her sister, Tabatha VanVliet, who also lives in Wilmington. ?She was going by what you?re supposed to do. You?re told if you don?t feel well, you go to the doctor.?
Murray, the mother of a 7-year-old boy, began feeling bad on Halloween and continued to get worse, VanVliet said.
She went to Cape Fear Hospital a couple of days later where doctors said she had the flu.
Murray had trouble breathing, a cough, sore throat and a fever. She went back two days after and was told she had pneumonia, was given antibiotics and went home, VanVliet said.
?She couldn?t keep the antibiotics down,? she said.
By the end of the week, Murray called her family. She had woken up after passing out in her hallway, not knowing how she got there or how long she had been there. Family members took her to New Hanover Regional Medical Center?s emergency department where they said they were told it would take eight hours to be seen. So instead, they went back to Cape Fear.
A representative from New Hanover Regional was not available last week to be interviewed.
( page 2 of 3 )
When Tanya Marie Murray began feeling sick on Halloween, her family thought she had a bad flu.
External Links:
* Full coverage at the Star-News swine flu page
* Why don't they ... Close local schools where kids have swine flu?
* Read the transcript from our online chat about the swine flu.
* What steps did local schools take after the swine flu outbreak, and how clean are they now?
Click to enlarge
Tanya Marie Murray
Buy photo
Submitted photo
It wasn?t until after multiple trips to the emergency department, eventually getting rushed to the intensive care unit and being put on a respirator that it became clear how serious Murray?s situation was.
Murray, a 30-year-old Wilmington resident, struggled in the ICU for days before dying Nov. 12 of complications related to the H1N1 virus.
?It?s not real, for someone so full of life and just so loving and so caring, and she?s just taken so quickly,? said her sister, Tabatha VanVliet, who also lives in Wilmington. ?She was going by what you?re supposed to do. You?re told if you don?t feel well, you go to the doctor.?
Murray, the mother of a 7-year-old boy, began feeling bad on Halloween and continued to get worse, VanVliet said.
She went to Cape Fear Hospital a couple of days later where doctors said she had the flu.
Murray had trouble breathing, a cough, sore throat and a fever. She went back two days after and was told she had pneumonia, was given antibiotics and went home, VanVliet said.
?She couldn?t keep the antibiotics down,? she said.
By the end of the week, Murray called her family. She had woken up after passing out in her hallway, not knowing how she got there or how long she had been there. Family members took her to New Hanover Regional Medical Center?s emergency department where they said they were told it would take eight hours to be seen. So instead, they went back to Cape Fear.
A representative from New Hanover Regional was not available last week to be interviewed.
?At that point, I was concerned, but I didn?t know what it was,? VanVliet said, adding she and Murray had joked about swine flu when she began getting sick but never in a million years thought that?s what was infecting her lungs.
?Until this happened to her I didn?t think twice about it,? VanVliet said about the virus.
Before then, most of what VanVliet said she had heard about the H1N1 virus in the media and from other people was that most of the people getting it experienced something slightly worse than the regular seasonal flu ? something that kept people at home from work or school for a couple of days but didn?t send them to the hospital to fight for their lives.
?I just thought it was a bad pneumonia,? VanVliet said about her sister?s condition.
While at Cape Fear, doctors made the decision to transport Murray to New Hanover Regional.
?As soon as she got to New Hanover?s ICU, they (doctors) came out and they told us that her only chance would be to be on a respirator,? VanVliet said. ?We went in to see her. That?s when they told her and she was terrified.
?They told her that she had to be on the respirator so they could give her everything that they could that night.?
With Murray?s oxygen levels and blood pressure getting dangerously low, family members kept vigil. She got better for a little while, but a within days her kidneys stopped working, and she was put on dialysis, VanVliet said.
Less than two weeks after first feeling symptoms and a week after being admitted to the hospital, Murray took a turn for the worse.
?When we got to New Hanover, the doctors said she had classic H1N1 symptoms,? VanVliet said. ?From the time they told us that?s what it was it was too late.?
According to Murray?s death certificate, H1N1 influenza pneumonia and respiratory failure caused her death. Kidney failure also was a contributing factor.
( page 3 of 3 )
When Tanya Marie Murray began feeling sick on Halloween, her family thought she had a bad flu.
External Links:
* Full coverage at the Star-News swine flu page
* Why don't they ... Close local schools where kids have swine flu?
* Read the transcript from our online chat about the swine flu.
* What steps did local schools take after the swine flu outbreak, and how clean are they now?
Click to enlarge
Tanya Marie Murray
Buy photo
Submitted photo
It wasn?t until after multiple trips to the emergency department, eventually getting rushed to the intensive care unit and being put on a respirator that it became clear how serious Murray?s situation was.
Murray, a 30-year-old Wilmington resident, struggled in the ICU for days before dying Nov. 12 of complications related to the H1N1 virus.
?It?s not real, for someone so full of life and just so loving and so caring, and she?s just taken so quickly,? said her sister, Tabatha VanVliet, who also lives in Wilmington. ?She was going by what you?re supposed to do. You?re told if you don?t feel well, you go to the doctor.?
Murray, the mother of a 7-year-old boy, began feeling bad on Halloween and continued to get worse, VanVliet said.
She went to Cape Fear Hospital a couple of days later where doctors said she had the flu.
Murray had trouble breathing, a cough, sore throat and a fever. She went back two days after and was told she had pneumonia, was given antibiotics and went home, VanVliet said.
?She couldn?t keep the antibiotics down,? she said.
By the end of the week, Murray called her family. She had woken up after passing out in her hallway, not knowing how she got there or how long she had been there. Family members took her to New Hanover Regional Medical Center?s emergency department where they said they were told it would take eight hours to be seen. So instead, they went back to Cape Fear.
A representative from New Hanover Regional was not available last week to be interviewed.
?At that point, I was concerned, but I didn?t know what it was,? VanVliet said, adding she and Murray had joked about swine flu when she began getting sick but never in a million years thought that?s what was infecting her lungs.
?Until this happened to her I didn?t think twice about it,? VanVliet said about the virus.
Before then, most of what VanVliet said she had heard about the H1N1 virus in the media and from other people was that most of the people getting it experienced something slightly worse than the regular seasonal flu ? something that kept people at home from work or school for a couple of days but didn?t send them to the hospital to fight for their lives.
?I just thought it was a bad pneumonia,? VanVliet said about her sister?s condition.
While at Cape Fear, doctors made the decision to transport Murray to New Hanover Regional.
?As soon as she got to New Hanover?s ICU, they (doctors) came out and they told us that her only chance would be to be on a respirator,? VanVliet said. ?We went in to see her. That?s when they told her and she was terrified.
?They told her that she had to be on the respirator so they could give her everything that they could that night.?
With Murray?s oxygen levels and blood pressure getting dangerously low, family members kept vigil. She got better for a little while, but a within days her kidneys stopped working, and she was put on dialysis, VanVliet said.
Less than two weeks after first feeling symptoms and a week after being admitted to the hospital, Murray took a turn for the worse.
?When we got to New Hanover, the doctors said she had classic H1N1 symptoms,? VanVliet said. ?From the time they told us that?s what it was it was too late.?
According to Murray?s death certificate, H1N1 influenza pneumonia and respiratory failure caused her death. Kidney failure also was a contributing factor.
Though the flu strain has circulated nationally since the spring, it was not until about the time when Murray got sick this fall that the first area deaths associated with the virus happened. At least a handful of people in the area with the virus have died.
Since the spring, 74 people have died in North Carolina from the flu, predominantly from the H1N1 strain.
Reports of flu-like illnesses appear to be on the decline now in North Carolina, though national health experts are divided on whether there will be another spike during the traditional flu season this winter.
Emergency department visits and hospitalizations statewide for flu-like illnesses have dropped off since October, when there was a peak in activity.
VanVliet said her sister did not have any other chronic medical conditions.
At the age of 30, Murray was outside the priority groups to qualify for the initial H1N1 vaccines. The age cut off was 24 unless someone had certain medical conditions so that the limited supplies could be targeted at groups health officials considered to be at high risk to suffer complications from the virus.
State health officials last week announced the vaccines could be opened up to anyone who wants one now that supplies have gone to priority groups, and local health departments have expanded their vaccine clinics.
VanVliet said she doesn?t know if her sister, who had previously worked as a certified nursing assistant, had wanted to get the vaccine or not.
VanVliet said she is left wondering whether earlier intensive treatment and the ability to diagnosis the H1N1 virus earlier would have made a difference.
?It?s just frustrating,? she said. ?She was full of energy, would do anything and everything for people. She loved to spend time with her son. She just had so much in life left to go for.?
Vicky Eckenrode: 343-2339
On Twitter.com: @vickyeckenrode
Young Wilmington mother?s life lost to H1N1
By Vicky Eckenrode
Vicky.Eckenrode@StarNewsOnline.com
Published: Saturday, December 12, 2009 at 3:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, December 11, 2009 at 10:55 p.m.
When Tanya Marie Murray began feeling sick on Halloween, her family thought she had a bad flu.
It wasn?t until after multiple trips to the emergency department, eventually getting rushed to the intensive care unit and being put on a respirator that it became clear how serious Murray?s situation was.
Murray, a 30-year-old Wilmington resident, struggled in the ICU for days before dying Nov. 12 of complications related to the H1N1 virus.
?It?s not real, for someone so full of life and just so loving and so caring, and she?s just taken so quickly,? said her sister, Tabatha VanVliet, who also lives in Wilmington. ?She was going by what you?re supposed to do. You?re told if you don?t feel well, you go to the doctor.?
Murray, the mother of a 7-year-old boy, began feeling bad on Halloween and continued to get worse, VanVliet said.
She went to Cape Fear Hospital a couple of days later where doctors said she had the flu.
Murray had trouble breathing, a cough, sore throat and a fever. She went back two days after and was told she had pneumonia, was given antibiotics and went home, VanVliet said.
?She couldn?t keep the antibiotics down,? she said.
By the end of the week, Murray called her family. She had woken up after passing out in her hallway, not knowing how she got there or how long she had been there. Family members took her to New Hanover Regional Medical Center?s emergency department where they said they were told it would take eight hours to be seen. So instead, they went back to Cape Fear.
A representative from New Hanover Regional was not available last week to be interviewed.
( page 2 of 3 )
When Tanya Marie Murray began feeling sick on Halloween, her family thought she had a bad flu.
External Links:
* Full coverage at the Star-News swine flu page
* Why don't they ... Close local schools where kids have swine flu?
* Read the transcript from our online chat about the swine flu.
* What steps did local schools take after the swine flu outbreak, and how clean are they now?
Click to enlarge
Tanya Marie Murray
Buy photo
Submitted photo
It wasn?t until after multiple trips to the emergency department, eventually getting rushed to the intensive care unit and being put on a respirator that it became clear how serious Murray?s situation was.
Murray, a 30-year-old Wilmington resident, struggled in the ICU for days before dying Nov. 12 of complications related to the H1N1 virus.
?It?s not real, for someone so full of life and just so loving and so caring, and she?s just taken so quickly,? said her sister, Tabatha VanVliet, who also lives in Wilmington. ?She was going by what you?re supposed to do. You?re told if you don?t feel well, you go to the doctor.?
Murray, the mother of a 7-year-old boy, began feeling bad on Halloween and continued to get worse, VanVliet said.
She went to Cape Fear Hospital a couple of days later where doctors said she had the flu.
Murray had trouble breathing, a cough, sore throat and a fever. She went back two days after and was told she had pneumonia, was given antibiotics and went home, VanVliet said.
?She couldn?t keep the antibiotics down,? she said.
By the end of the week, Murray called her family. She had woken up after passing out in her hallway, not knowing how she got there or how long she had been there. Family members took her to New Hanover Regional Medical Center?s emergency department where they said they were told it would take eight hours to be seen. So instead, they went back to Cape Fear.
A representative from New Hanover Regional was not available last week to be interviewed.
?At that point, I was concerned, but I didn?t know what it was,? VanVliet said, adding she and Murray had joked about swine flu when she began getting sick but never in a million years thought that?s what was infecting her lungs.
?Until this happened to her I didn?t think twice about it,? VanVliet said about the virus.
Before then, most of what VanVliet said she had heard about the H1N1 virus in the media and from other people was that most of the people getting it experienced something slightly worse than the regular seasonal flu ? something that kept people at home from work or school for a couple of days but didn?t send them to the hospital to fight for their lives.
?I just thought it was a bad pneumonia,? VanVliet said about her sister?s condition.
While at Cape Fear, doctors made the decision to transport Murray to New Hanover Regional.
?As soon as she got to New Hanover?s ICU, they (doctors) came out and they told us that her only chance would be to be on a respirator,? VanVliet said. ?We went in to see her. That?s when they told her and she was terrified.
?They told her that she had to be on the respirator so they could give her everything that they could that night.?
With Murray?s oxygen levels and blood pressure getting dangerously low, family members kept vigil. She got better for a little while, but a within days her kidneys stopped working, and she was put on dialysis, VanVliet said.
Less than two weeks after first feeling symptoms and a week after being admitted to the hospital, Murray took a turn for the worse.
?When we got to New Hanover, the doctors said she had classic H1N1 symptoms,? VanVliet said. ?From the time they told us that?s what it was it was too late.?
According to Murray?s death certificate, H1N1 influenza pneumonia and respiratory failure caused her death. Kidney failure also was a contributing factor.
( page 3 of 3 )
When Tanya Marie Murray began feeling sick on Halloween, her family thought she had a bad flu.
External Links:
* Full coverage at the Star-News swine flu page
* Why don't they ... Close local schools where kids have swine flu?
* Read the transcript from our online chat about the swine flu.
* What steps did local schools take after the swine flu outbreak, and how clean are they now?
Click to enlarge
Tanya Marie Murray
Buy photo
Submitted photo
It wasn?t until after multiple trips to the emergency department, eventually getting rushed to the intensive care unit and being put on a respirator that it became clear how serious Murray?s situation was.
Murray, a 30-year-old Wilmington resident, struggled in the ICU for days before dying Nov. 12 of complications related to the H1N1 virus.
?It?s not real, for someone so full of life and just so loving and so caring, and she?s just taken so quickly,? said her sister, Tabatha VanVliet, who also lives in Wilmington. ?She was going by what you?re supposed to do. You?re told if you don?t feel well, you go to the doctor.?
Murray, the mother of a 7-year-old boy, began feeling bad on Halloween and continued to get worse, VanVliet said.
She went to Cape Fear Hospital a couple of days later where doctors said she had the flu.
Murray had trouble breathing, a cough, sore throat and a fever. She went back two days after and was told she had pneumonia, was given antibiotics and went home, VanVliet said.
?She couldn?t keep the antibiotics down,? she said.
By the end of the week, Murray called her family. She had woken up after passing out in her hallway, not knowing how she got there or how long she had been there. Family members took her to New Hanover Regional Medical Center?s emergency department where they said they were told it would take eight hours to be seen. So instead, they went back to Cape Fear.
A representative from New Hanover Regional was not available last week to be interviewed.
?At that point, I was concerned, but I didn?t know what it was,? VanVliet said, adding she and Murray had joked about swine flu when she began getting sick but never in a million years thought that?s what was infecting her lungs.
?Until this happened to her I didn?t think twice about it,? VanVliet said about the virus.
Before then, most of what VanVliet said she had heard about the H1N1 virus in the media and from other people was that most of the people getting it experienced something slightly worse than the regular seasonal flu ? something that kept people at home from work or school for a couple of days but didn?t send them to the hospital to fight for their lives.
?I just thought it was a bad pneumonia,? VanVliet said about her sister?s condition.
While at Cape Fear, doctors made the decision to transport Murray to New Hanover Regional.
?As soon as she got to New Hanover?s ICU, they (doctors) came out and they told us that her only chance would be to be on a respirator,? VanVliet said. ?We went in to see her. That?s when they told her and she was terrified.
?They told her that she had to be on the respirator so they could give her everything that they could that night.?
With Murray?s oxygen levels and blood pressure getting dangerously low, family members kept vigil. She got better for a little while, but a within days her kidneys stopped working, and she was put on dialysis, VanVliet said.
Less than two weeks after first feeling symptoms and a week after being admitted to the hospital, Murray took a turn for the worse.
?When we got to New Hanover, the doctors said she had classic H1N1 symptoms,? VanVliet said. ?From the time they told us that?s what it was it was too late.?
According to Murray?s death certificate, H1N1 influenza pneumonia and respiratory failure caused her death. Kidney failure also was a contributing factor.
Though the flu strain has circulated nationally since the spring, it was not until about the time when Murray got sick this fall that the first area deaths associated with the virus happened. At least a handful of people in the area with the virus have died.
Since the spring, 74 people have died in North Carolina from the flu, predominantly from the H1N1 strain.
Reports of flu-like illnesses appear to be on the decline now in North Carolina, though national health experts are divided on whether there will be another spike during the traditional flu season this winter.
Emergency department visits and hospitalizations statewide for flu-like illnesses have dropped off since October, when there was a peak in activity.
VanVliet said her sister did not have any other chronic medical conditions.
At the age of 30, Murray was outside the priority groups to qualify for the initial H1N1 vaccines. The age cut off was 24 unless someone had certain medical conditions so that the limited supplies could be targeted at groups health officials considered to be at high risk to suffer complications from the virus.
State health officials last week announced the vaccines could be opened up to anyone who wants one now that supplies have gone to priority groups, and local health departments have expanded their vaccine clinics.
VanVliet said she doesn?t know if her sister, who had previously worked as a certified nursing assistant, had wanted to get the vaccine or not.
VanVliet said she is left wondering whether earlier intensive treatment and the ability to diagnosis the H1N1 virus earlier would have made a difference.
?It?s just frustrating,? she said. ?She was full of energy, would do anything and everything for people. She loved to spend time with her son. She just had so much in life left to go for.?
Vicky Eckenrode: 343-2339
On Twitter.com: @vickyeckenrode