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Mom of H1N1 child warns others of flu
Kamren Blakely was 10; died Wednesday
Updated: Monday, 09 Nov 2009, 6:40 PM EST
Published : Saturday, 07 Nov 2009, 5:55 PM EST
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) - As a Kalamazoo mother planned her 10-year-old son's funeral, she thought about the message she wanted to send others about how serious the swine flu can be.
Other than being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Kamren David Blakely was a healthy child. But in about six days, he was diagnosed with H1N1, then pneumonia and then organ failure. Next, he had cardiac arrest three times and a brain hemorrhage.
Kamren died Wednesday afternoon at an Ann Arbor hospital.
"I very much blame H1N1 for his death," said Donna Blakely, Kamren's mother. "I want people to not to take this (virus) lightly. It's very serious."
She said she hopes others will learn from her experience. Blakely saw the headlines and the news, but assumed it wouldn't happen to her family.
"I miss his smile, his eyes and the love and affection that he showed to everyone," Blakely said. "(Doctors) shut the machine off that was keeping him alive and Kamren died within a minute after shutting that machine off."
The death is the state's second reported child death from H1N1 complications since Sept. 1. Michigan officials on Thursday said 22 people, including a 6-month-old child, had died from swine flu in that period. At the time, the state said there were no other child deaths reported.
"They put an IV into his arms for fluid and I heard him cry out," Donna Blakely said. "And that was the last sound I ever heard from my son. He didn't gasp for any air. He just quietly left us."
His funeral will be at 1 p.m. Monday at Life Funeral Story Homes, 409 S. Main St., in Vicksburg.
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