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'Don't let your child die of swine flu like my daughter'
Anna Davis, Education Correspondent22 Oct 2009
The mother of a girl who died with swine flu is urging people to get vaccinated against the virus.
Kelly Gibson, whose eight-year-old daughter Holly died in July, said she wants to prevent other parents from losing children to the illness.
She said: "If the vaccine had been around before, I would definitely have given it to Holly, but it is too late for her. The vaccine will save lives this winter, so if people are offered it they should take it."
Holly, from Erith, Kent, was born with heart defects, a weakened immune system and a rare chromosome disorder. She fell ill weeks before her ninth birthday and was given antibiotics.
When she started struggling to breathe she was taken to Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup before being transferred to St Thomas' in Westminster, where she was diagnosed with swine flu. She died in her mother's arms at the hospital.
Mrs Gibson, 32, said: "At the time we were not worried about swine flu. It had been in the papers but I was so naive I thought it had been blown out of proportion like mad cow disease.
"No one warned us to get her to a hospital straight away if she developed a cough or cold. I don't want to scare other parents, but I feel very strongly about warning them about what could happen. If you have a vulnerable person in your house get them vaccinated. I don't want other parents to go through the same horror."
A mass swine flu vaccination programme was launched across the country today. Front line NHS staff will be the first to get the jab, while GPs will offer it to pregnant women from next week as well as other high-risk patients, including children and young people with underlying health conditions.
Mrs Gibson said: "I wish the swine flu vaccine had been rolled out earlier. Life without Holly is so strange. Holly has been a brave fighter all through her short life. Lung infections were a common part of her life but I wish I had been alert to the threat of swine flu."
Mrs Gibson, who also has four-year-old twins George and Lyra, said hospital staff asked her and her husband Scott whether Holly should be resuscitated. She said: "It's the worst thing a parent can ever face, being asked to put a Do Not Resuscitate notice on your own child."
When Holly deteriorated again and was expected to last only a few hours she was taken off her ventilator and given morphine. Mrs Gibson said: "I held her and she passed away peacefully in my arms."
Mrs Gibson is fundraising for a minibus for Shenstone School in Dartford where Holly was a pupil. She said: "Holly lived for school, she would always come back with a big smile. I can't thank the teachers enough for their skill and patience."
Thirty-three patients with swine flu have died in London since the start of the pandemic.
