Mom of boy in coma urges Swine Flu vaccination
H1N1 complications: Michael has been in coma since Nov. 2.
By Salim Jiwa
CALGARY, Alberta – (Update) A heart-broken and worried mother says those who don’t think you need a vaccine to fight off Swine Flu should visit her comatose son in hospital where he has been on life-support since Nov. 2.
Latest: Michael died on Dec. 15. Read about the tragedy here.
“He has pneumonia in both lungs, he is not able to breathe on his own,” she said. “He is on an ECMO machine which basically carries out the function of his lungs.”
“We are dealing with doctors at the hospital who wish more people would be vaccinated,” said Heather Gorbous as her son Michael, 16, a previously healthy boy in grade 11, fights for his life with machines helping him to breathe.
“Well, I welcome them to come and see my son,” she said about those who are reluctant to get vaccinated against the pandemic flu that has landed 7,000 Canadians in hospital, with 500 on life-support.
“The fight is not over, he’s in very serious condition and we don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said in a telephone interview after her husband Kris went to the Calgary Herald to tell his son’s story so others don’t get complacent about the dangers of a flu that is being described as a young person’s disease.
“He has been in a coma since Nov. 2nd,” she added. “This is not your ordinary flu – and the thing is it is not just the flu, it’s the complications of this flu and it is affecting young healthy people.”
The boy’s grandmother, Fay Gorbous, said doctors are holding Michael in isolation but there are several similar cases in the wards. She said she is not going there “because I couldn’t bear to see him like that.”
She said her son Kris went to the media to plead with the public to get vaccinated because Michael did not have vaccination when he was taken to hospital by ambulance.
“He is extremely ill, he has been on life-support for 26 days now,” said the grandmother. “He has lost a lot of weight and we’re praying for him every day.”
“Get up there everybody and get your shots, it’s a terrible, terrible disease,” she said.
The boy began feeling sick in late October. On Nov. 2, he started having chest pains as the pneumonia began taking a hold.
The message to get vaccinated is being echoed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Canada’s Chief Health Officer, B.C.’s Chief Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall, physicians and scientists by the thousands.
The latest figures released by the government for the period ending Nov. 21 show that 6,992 Canadians have been hospitalized so far with 1,110 in ICU of whom 501 have needed life support. 309 Canadians have died.
Pneumonia has emerged as a major complicating factor in the U.S. as well where 26,315 people had been hospitalized at last count.
“Pandemics put us at risk for not just flu problems, but also bacterial pneumonia problems,” Dr. Anne Schuchat, assistant surgeon general and a director of the CDC, said at a press conference on Wednesday.
One key finding that the CDC relied on was a huge spike in the Denver area where they had triple the normal cases of invasive bacterial pneumonia.
From August 30 – November 14, 2009, 26,315 laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated hospitalizations and 1,049 laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated deaths were reported to CDC across the U.S. A significant number of deaths were due to bacterial pneumonia. The U.S. deaths since April number more than 3,000.
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Related articles:
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- CDC: Shocking new figures show 14 to 34 million were infected by Swine Flu in the U.S.
- Swine Flu spikes again in U.S.
- U.S. pediatric deaths continue to mount from Swine Flu
Posted by News Editor
on Nov 28 2009. Filed under Featured.
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RIP Mike.
Liam, we have just updated the story on his passing. Very sad. But we do hope people will ignore those who misinform the public and we urge people to get vaccinated.