Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1158813_swine_flu_kills_fit_and_healthy_woman
Swine flu kills 'fit and healthy' woman
October 06, 2009
A YOUNG woman from Greater Manchester described as fit and healthy has died from swine flu.
Louise Jones, 24, developed a migraine, sore throat and flu-like symptoms while holidaying on Crete.
Her conditions worsened when she got home.
The former air hostess from Leigh died in Hope Hospital, Salford, after spending two weeks in intensive care.
Her parents have now warned other young people about how quickly the virus can destroy lives and are urging anyone with swine flu symptoms to get medical help as soon as possible.
Doctors say Louise, a Virgin Trains customer services worker on board the West Coast Mainline, was more vulnerable to the virus because she had asthma.
Her family say that although she was diagnosed with the condition as a child, it had never caused her problems and she was a healthy, active young woman.
Kathy Earl, 28, who worked with her and who was with her on Crete said: ?She woke up with a headache on the day before we were due to come home. I thought it was sunstroke but she said it was a migraine.?
Louise is thought to be one of only a handful of people from the north west to die from the disease but health bosses have refused to give regional numbers.
Her mother Theresa Legge, a credit controller, said: ?We can?t come to terms with it. She was healthy, she was fit, she had never had a day off work with asthma.
?She came back from holiday tanned and looking healthy and two weeks later she is gone.
?People, especially young people, need to be more worried about swine flu.
?I want to tell young people if you think you have flu get medical help quickly. She was my best friend as well as my daughter, she was so popular we had almost 300 people come to her funeral. She was so warm and fun loving, she had a smile for everyone. We feel so empty now, we don?t know what to do with ourselves.?
Her father Ken is calling for more specialist artificial lung, or ECMO, machines which have helped some people with swine flu recover.
The couple were told Louise, a former pupil at Fred Longworth High in Tyldesley, was not sick enough to need ECMO and when she became critical in the two days before she died on September 22 staff said she was too sick to make the journey to Leicester ? the only place the machines are available.
He said: ?The staff at the hospital were fantastic we can?t praise them enough. But she was our angel, we wanted them to try everything possible to save her. We will never know now whether it would have done. We should have one of these machines in the north west.?
Latest government data shows children and young people aged five to 24 are more prone to swine flu than any other age group.
Seventy people with swine flu have died in England so far, but health bosses say it was not necessarily the cause of all the deaths, as many of the victims had underlying medical conditions.
Swine flu kills 'fit and healthy' woman
October 06, 2009
A YOUNG woman from Greater Manchester described as fit and healthy has died from swine flu.
Louise Jones, 24, developed a migraine, sore throat and flu-like symptoms while holidaying on Crete.
Her conditions worsened when she got home.
The former air hostess from Leigh died in Hope Hospital, Salford, after spending two weeks in intensive care.
Her parents have now warned other young people about how quickly the virus can destroy lives and are urging anyone with swine flu symptoms to get medical help as soon as possible.
Doctors say Louise, a Virgin Trains customer services worker on board the West Coast Mainline, was more vulnerable to the virus because she had asthma.
Her family say that although she was diagnosed with the condition as a child, it had never caused her problems and she was a healthy, active young woman.
Kathy Earl, 28, who worked with her and who was with her on Crete said: ?She woke up with a headache on the day before we were due to come home. I thought it was sunstroke but she said it was a migraine.?
Louise is thought to be one of only a handful of people from the north west to die from the disease but health bosses have refused to give regional numbers.
Her mother Theresa Legge, a credit controller, said: ?We can?t come to terms with it. She was healthy, she was fit, she had never had a day off work with asthma.
?She came back from holiday tanned and looking healthy and two weeks later she is gone.
?People, especially young people, need to be more worried about swine flu.
?I want to tell young people if you think you have flu get medical help quickly. She was my best friend as well as my daughter, she was so popular we had almost 300 people come to her funeral. She was so warm and fun loving, she had a smile for everyone. We feel so empty now, we don?t know what to do with ourselves.?
Her father Ken is calling for more specialist artificial lung, or ECMO, machines which have helped some people with swine flu recover.
The couple were told Louise, a former pupil at Fred Longworth High in Tyldesley, was not sick enough to need ECMO and when she became critical in the two days before she died on September 22 staff said she was too sick to make the journey to Leicester ? the only place the machines are available.
He said: ?The staff at the hospital were fantastic we can?t praise them enough. But she was our angel, we wanted them to try everything possible to save her. We will never know now whether it would have done. We should have one of these machines in the north west.?
Latest government data shows children and young people aged five to 24 are more prone to swine flu than any other age group.
Seventy people with swine flu have died in England so far, but health bosses say it was not necessarily the cause of all the deaths, as many of the victims had underlying medical conditions.