This is why no one should ever say the flu is "NO BIG DEAL"

I'm sharing this prayer request I received because I believe it's important and at the bottem of the email, they urged us to let people know. The flu is a big deal when it can do this to a perfectly healthy young lady. Get vaccinated when you can, if you can. Do what you can to prevent this and do what you can to protect your family. This my friends is why I have to take the precautions I do with my heart condition too.

On Saturday, 9/5/09, my son in law (Kelly Root) and my daughter (Stacy) lost their 19 year old niece (Taylor Brian) to pneumonia related H1N1 (Swine Flu) virus. Taylor was a senior at Denham Springs High School. She was treated for strep throat on 8/20, got better but still had strep on the 27th, began throwing up and was hospitalized in BR Gen on Bluebonnet, with a touch of pneumonia on 8/29. She was tested for H1N1 and the family was told it would take 10 days to get the results. When her fever got up to 105 over that weekend and she was placed in ICU. Her oxygen level got so low, she was given a paralytic drug and put on a ventilator Monday. Tuesday chest tubes had to be inserted. Wednesday, another swab for H1N1 was taken and a lab in BR, which as I understand will be dedicated for this type of testing, revealed Thursday she tested POSITIVE for H1N1. They tried to ween her off the paralytic drug in preparation for removal of the vent, but could not because the blood pressure and oxygen levels dropped. Everytime they would do anything to her, such as suctioning her lungs or bathing her, the BP and O2 levels would drop. The family received a call about 3 a.m. Saturday to return to the hospital as her levels dropped as she was being repostioned. This time they could not get her back and she passed away around 4 a.m.. She will be buried on Wednesday.

It appears this virus attacked her lungs with a vengence. The family was told her lungs were like one big blister.

The reason I am relaying all of this to you is so you will be especially alert if your child, grandchild, niece or nephew has any type of cold or sore throat, you can take immediate action. We don't know if Taylor had the H1N1 virus before getting strep or vise versa. In any event a perfectly healthy young woman died in a very short time.

Taylor was a precious young lady who always had a smile on her face, was a friend to all and a joy to be around. This whole ordeal has been like a nightmare for my son-in-law and his family. Please keep the Brian and Root Families in your prayers.