CALGARY — Friends of a Calgary woman who died of H1N1 flu can’t understand how the healthy mother of four young boys could be struck down by the illness.
Vanessa Bluebell, 25, died of respiratory failure in hospital on Thursday. Health officials said she had no pre-existing medical conditions. Her friend, Stella Peeace, said the young mother contracted the virus while she was in Saskatchewan attending a cousin’s funeral. Bluebell, whose children are seven, five, three and one, was originally from the Yellow Quill First Nation in Saskatchewan.
“She came back and by the time she got here she was sick already, she thought she had the flu.”
When Bluebell’s symptoms got worse, her common-law husband called an ambulance.
Two days later her partner had to call an ambulance again. This time she was admitted to hospital and fell into a coma, Peeace said.