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  • 2nd H1N1 wave sidesteps First Nations

    2nd H1N1 wave sidesteps First Nations

    But woman who nearly died in spring and others recall fight with swine flu

    Last Updated: Monday, November 30, 2009 | 5:07 PM CT

    CBC News


    Mary Jane Harper lost her unborn baby after contracting the H1N1 flu virus when it first emerged in the spring. (CBC)


    The stories, the illnesses and the deaths ? of a pregnant woman and an unborn child ? are still fresh in the minds of a northern Manitoba First Nation community hit hard by the spring H1N1 flu pandemic, even though the virus has been slow to make its mark this fall.

    So far, there hasn't been a single confirmed case at St. Theresa Point First Nation, about 500 kilometres north of Winnipeg. But in the spring, there were 122 confirmed cases of the virus, also known as swine flu, in the community of about 2,500 people.

    Mary Jane Harper, for one, was pregnant when she fell ill in May. The 24-year-old survived, but her unborn child did not.

    "I knew my baby wouldn't have survived all of that because I barely made it. I didn't even have to ask; I just knew," she said in a recent interview.

    For several weeks in the spring, residents in St. Theresa Point got used to hearing the drone of helicopters and airplanes as more than 50 people were airlifted to Winnipeg hospitals with severe respiratory illness.

    A handful of them never returned.

    Pregnant woman dies

    Swine flu was suspected in several deaths, but only confirmed in one ? another pregnant woman who was Harper's cousin.

    Before her death, the woman gave birth during an emergency caesarean section. That baby boy is in foster care, family members told CBC News.

    There were seven deaths in Manitoba during the spring wave of the virus that peaked in June, but provincial health officials have not revealed where any of the victims lived.

    For Harper, the news of her cousin's death was especially hard. Both were pregnant and both the same age.

    "I thought to myself, 'That could've been me, you know?'" she said. "I like to think that baby is mine."

    The illness hit hard and fast when it felled Harper. Within a short time she went from feeling sick to fighting for her life.

    "I was coughing lots, feverish, couldn't breathe, couldn't lay down, couldn't stand up, couldn't sit down," she said, describing how it was in the initial stages.

    Despite her illness, she continued going to work as a teacher's assistant in the local elementary school, kept visiting friends and family, and maintained her busy social life for a few days.

    It was the end of May, just before the swine flu started to put its grip on the community, that she sought help.

    "I was bleeding that morning and so we went to [a] nursing station. They told me I didn't lose the baby and then the situation changed," she said.
    St. Theresa Point, which had 122 confirmed cases of swine flu in the spring, is an isolated community 500 kilometres north of Winnipeg. (CBC)


    She started to go into respiratory failure and was hooked up to oxygen tank and airlifted to Winnipeg.

    "The next thing I knew I was in ICU, and that's when I went to sleep," she said.

    That sleep was a medically induced coma that lasted 18 days.

    While she was in the coma, other members of Harper's family wound up in the same hospital, also fighting severe respiratory illnesses.

    3 family members in hospital, 2 died

    Harper's sister, Melodie, said the hardest day was June 2, when three family members were in the ICU at the same time, including her great-uncle, who died that morning.

    He had complications from diabetes, but his family suspects he also had H1N1, which was never confirmed.

    After hearing the news about his death, Melodie went across the hall to her sister's room.

    "I noticed she looked so different. She looked worse, was swelling, and her fever ? she was just sweating."

    Harper's arms were also secured to the bed.

    "The nurse walked by and I asked her, 'Why is she tied up?'" said Melodie.

    "She was very blunt with me. She told me if she tries to pull out her breathing tube again, she'll die."

    Harper's doctor then summoned the entire family into a conference room where he showed them her X-rays. The day before, Harper's lungs had been clear, but within 24 hours, they were completely infected.

    "He told us that within three days, we would know if she was going to make it or if she was going to get worse," Melodie said.

    Not long after, Melodie noticed hospital staff in a frenzy, rushing into the room of the pregnant cousin.

    "I froze there," she said. "My cousin had passed away. I was feeling like my whole body was in pain.

    "So I went for a smoke and looked up on the floor, that ICU ? you could see dreamcatchers [hanging] from the windows and that's when I realized most of those people in ICU were aboriginal and that's when they told us ? we were at risk."

    Nearly three weeks after going into her coma, Harper regained consciousness on June 14.

    "When I woke up, the doctors were asking me if I knew the date. I said May 29 or 30 because when I got sent out, it was May 27," she said.

    "They told me it was the middle of June.

    Nerve damage

    Harper has nerve damage in her feet and has a hard time walking. She said it's tough to be cooped up in the house all day, but she's got something big to look forward to: her fianc?, Eric Knott, proposed to her shortly after she came home from the hospital.

    They're planning a wedding for Feb. 9.

    Knott said he is excited about the date, even if he has to carry his bride down the aisle.

    "[It] doesn't matter, as long as I spend my life with her," he said. "There are times I sit up all night just watching her. I would've lost her and she wouldn't have been here.

    "I'm always thankful she's still here with me."

    The couple also hopes to try again to start a family one day.

    "Someday, but we're gonna wait until she gets all better," he said.

    Harper gives credit for her recovery to her family, friends and community, and her faith. As she concentrates on getting better, she is giving this message to everyone she meets: "Get vaccinated. This virus is real and it could happen to anybody, not just pregnant women. I could happen to anybody."

    Officials tried to calm fears

    Protective masks became a feature in St. Theresa Point after swine flu emerged. The community was hit hard by the virus. (CBC)

    During the height of the H1N1 outbreak in the north, people were getting so panicked that Manitoba's health minister and the chief medical officer of health visited St. Theresa Point to give residents information and try to calm their fears.

    Edward Flett, a band counsellor responsible for the health portfolio in the community, said those visits helped.

    "The health professionals say if you get hit on the first wave, the second won't be as bad or you probably have immunity in your system. I like to think of it that way ? that someone is watching over us and the second wave isn't so bad," he said.

    Provincial health officials confirmed to CBC News that northern Manitoba only has four per cent of Manitoba's total H1N1 cases this fall. During the spring wave, it accounted for one-third of all cases.

    Still, Elvin Flett, the assistant health director and co-ordinator of the community's pandemic preparedness team, said it's too early to say the worst has passed.

    "The weather's been unusually warm and they say the virus gets worse when it gets colder," he said. "So we're still waiting for something to happen."

    "Safety and security don't just happen, they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear."
    -Nelson Mandela
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