By RANDY GRIFFITH
WINDBER — Like dozens of other children across the region, Abby Bush, 6, of Windber, came down with a fever this month.
It was Oct. 12, and her parents, Kim and Ron Bush, were concerned but not too surprised. One of her two older brothers had been down the week before with the flu.
As she developed a cough and sore throat over the next 24 hours, her parents were treating her at home exactly as health-care leaders recommend for those with flu-like symptoms.
But the next evening, Oct. 13, Abby started having trouble breathing, and her mother took her to an area clinic.
“The doctor told me they have lots of cases like her,” Kim Bush said. “He said to take her home and give her Tylenol.”
By the next morning, it was clear Abby was seriously ill. Her breathing problems had become worse and she was so weak should could not walk.
Her parents rushed her to Windber Medical Center’s emergency room, but she was immediately transferred to Memorial Medical Center and transported by medical helicopter to Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital.
Although most H1N1 flu patients recover after a few days, Abby may be among an alarming minority of otherwise-healthy young people who get serious complications.
“This population, from age 4 to about 16, are the kids getting hit hardest,” said Dr. Matthew Masiello, pediatrician and public health expert with Windber Research Institute.
“They are getting sicker than adults and infants.”
In Pittsburgh, Abby was immediately placed on a respirator and sedated to preserve strength for her body to fight the bacterial pneumonia that had developed in her lungs.
The Windber Elementary School first-grader and cheerleader soon was fighting for her life. Her kidneys shut down and her left lung collapsed. Several times, Children’s Hospital health teams used ice to reduce her fever.
Surgeons placed a tube into her chest and performed another procedure to reinflate her lung. They drained some fluid from the other lung.
“We keep praying that we will see some improvement,” her grandmother, Deborah Stufft of Windber, said last Saturday. “But so far there has been more bad news than there has been good.”
Some good news finally came late this week.
“They (removed) the ventilator yesterday,” Kim Bush said Friday from Children’s Hospital. “They put in a pressure airway to her nose to help her breathe and give her some oxygen. She seems to be doing better today.”
Kim Bush stresses the importance of getting immediate care for children whose flu-like symptoms become more serious.
“We know our kids better than the doctor does,” she said.
“If they’re not listening, take them somewhere else. She almost died. She went into respiratory and renal failure.”
Masiello said parents can watch for signs that their children need immediate attention.
“What we should become aware of is if their illness is not getting better,” Masiello said.
“Look for shortness of breath, difficulty breathing or a change in their level of consciousness. Also, if they get better, and a day or two later, they get sick again.”
Children in Cambria and Somerset counties have a disadvantage over those in urban areas because the nearest pediatric tertiary care center is at Children’s. Memorial Medical Center serves as tertiary care center for adults, providing a wide range of specialists.
The situation in rural areas and smaller cities such as Johnstown should be part of the state’s vaccine distribution plans, Masiello said.
“I’ve been talking to the state about this issue,” he said.
Abby’s grandmother said the situation is going to put a heavy financial burden on the family, already put in a crunch by the economy. Ron Bush commutes to work part time at Valley Tire in Pittsburgh, while Kim Bush has taken time off from her part-time job at Allegheny Independent Physicians in Johnstown so she can be with Abby.
Stufft has established a benefit account in Abby’s name at First National Bank in Windber.
