An 18-year-old Dundee man has died from swine flu, leaving his family “utterly devastated.”
David Owen from Douglas was taken by his father David senior to his doctor on Wednesday afternoon because he couldn’t shake off a cold and was feeling dizzy.
That evening he was in the intensive care unit at Ninewells Hospital and his family were told to prepare for the worst. He died on Saturday.
Mr Owen (55) said, “It’s just unbelievable.
“We can’t believe that David has gone. He had a cold that wouldn’t go away or that’s all we thought it was.”
The family’s nightmare began on Wednesday after Mr Owen telephoned his son’s GP surgery at Terra Nova House in Dura Street to ask if a doctor could visit David at home.
The doctor asked Mr Owen to put David on the line and after questioning him about how he was feeling, she asked to speak to his father again and said that he sounded well enough to visit the surgery later that day.
Mr Owen, who suffers from polio, said, “David had a cough and a temperature and was feeling a bit dizzy, but we thought okay, we’ll go to the doctor that afternoon.
“On the way out of the house he fell at the door because of his dizziness and that was worrying, but he got up again and I took him in.
“The doctor took one look at him, though, and said to get an ambulance as David needed to go to hospital.”David’s last wordsHe added, “We drove up behind him and his brother Stewart went in to A&E to see what was going on. Stewart came out quickly and told me that the medical staff wanted to see me.
“I went in and found David surrounded by people wearing gowns and masks, and they said that they were taking David up to the intensive care unit.
“They had taken his clothes off to examine him and his clothes were in a bag. As they took him away David called to me and said ‘Remember my clothes in the bag, Dad.’ ”
These were the last words David spoke.
Mr Owen said, “I replied, ‘I’ll see you later son’, but I never expected what was going to happen.”
Mr Owen went to fetch David a computer magazine, a bottle of juice and his mobile phone, thinking he would need these to help pass the time.
When Mr Owen took them up to the ICU, he found that David had been put into a coma.
He had been hooked up to a ventilator and administered antibiotics and a muscle relaxant, with the doctors explaining that they were the best way to help the drugs tackle the infection.
In disbelief at the sudden turn of events, Mr Owen, supported by sons Stewart (30) and Brian (25), stood helplessly when on Wednesday night a doctor told them that David was seriously ill and they should “prepare for the worst.”
“He never regained consciousness,” said Mr Owen.
He added, “They hooked him up to another type of ventilator but that didn’t help him. Then they did the test for swine flu and the result came back positive.
“They did all they could for David and the staff in the intensive care unit were tremendous, but he just slipped away.”
Mr Owen said his family could not understand how the tragedy had happened.
He said, “He was quite tall and maybe slightly overweight but not by much and not unlike many other people.
“David turned 18 in November and he didn’t smoke or drink alcohol. In fact, we took him to the pub for a drink on his 18th birthday and he didn’t like it.”
David was educated at Powrie Primary and Craigie High School. His main interest was computer games and he was never happier than playing with his XBox.
On leaving school he went to Dundee College to study computer animation but the course did not lead to a job.
He registered as unemployed before Christmas and, struggling with what his family all thought was a cold, he returned to sign on last Tuesday.
Mr Owen said, “It is unbelievable what happened we can’t take it in.
“Words can’t describe how we feel.”
On Friday, Health Protection Scotland announced that 17 people had lost their lives to flu in the past week eight of them in the east of the country.
Dr Finn Romanes said flu appeared to be more prevalent in Tayside than before, but urged people not to panic as rates were within the expected range.
He added, “They hooked him up to another type of ventilator but that didn’t help him. Then they did the test for swine flu and the result came back positive.
“They did all they could for David and the staff in the intensive care unit were tremendous, but he just slipped away.”
Mr Owen said his family could not understand how the tragedy had happened.
He said, “He was quite tall and maybe slightly overweight but not by much and not unlike many other people.
“David turned 18 in November and he didn’t smoke or drink alcohol. In fact, we took him to the pub for a drink on his 18th birthday and he didn’t like it.”
David was educated at Powrie Primary and Craigie High School. His main interest was computer games and he was never happier than playing with his XBox.
On leaving school he went to Dundee College to study computer animation but the course did not lead to a job.
He registered as unemployed before Christmas and, struggling with what his family all thought was a cold, he returned to sign on last Tuesday.
Mr Owen said, “It is unbelievable what happened we can’t take it in.
“Words can’t describe how we feel.”
On Friday, Health Protection Scotland announced that 17 people had lost their lives to flu in the past week eight of them in the east of the country.
Dr Finn Romanes said flu appeared to be more prevalent in Tayside than before, but urged people not to panic as rates were within the expected range.