Australia’s deadly flu season – the worst influenza season on record – has tragically claimed another young life.
Madeline Jones would have celebrated her 19th birthday this Sunday with her family and friends; instead, her heartbroken loved ones are coming to grips with the loss of their big-hearted, energetic and intelligent Maddy.
Maddy was on holiday with her long-term boyfriend when she started to show standard symptoms of the flu. Source: Facebook, Maddy Jones
“She was a good girl and a good daughter, very dedicated and organised and very motherly to her twin brothers Nathan and Lachlan and everyone else in the family,” Maddy’s mum Danielle Nielsen told The Courier Mail.
“Maddy was also very independent, very strong willed, very determined and that’s why she was going to make a great lawyer.”
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Maddy was enjoying a holiday at Caloundra with her boyfriend, Callum Royle, when she started to show standard symptoms of the flu: a sore throat and runny nose. The teenager rested and took precautions to get better, but her condition worsened. Five days after her initial symptoms, Maddy was admitted to the intensive care unit at the Prince Charles Hospital where she fell into a coma and never woke up.
Callum said the speed of the virus took everyone by surprise.
“It’s hard to believe that only a month ago we were having a discussion about our future and we were pretty certain that we were going to spend the rest of our lives together,” he said.
The Queensland teen’s family are devastated by the tragic loss of their daughter. Source: Facebook, Maddy Jones
Doctors explained the influenza virus Maddy contract turned deadly when she developed sepsis – organ failure caused by her body’s response to a joint attack of the flu and a bacterial infection.
Maddy’s family says the 18-year-old was an animal lover, talented tennis player and children’s tennis coach, and a law and business student at QUT.
“Maddy had an awful lot of potential to be something very special and have a great impact on the world,” her boyfriend said.
Maddy was known by her friends and family as an animal lover with a big heart. Source: Facebook, Maddy Jones
Earlier in the flu season, authorities urged Australians to be vigilant about flu symptoms after it was reported that an eight-year-old girl had died from influenza.
Health authorities said the girl died in the Angliss Hospital at Upper Ferntree Gully in Melbourne’s east.
“This is an influenza strain that is able to impact the young, the elderly, the well and the unwell,” Victorian Health Minister Jill Hennessy told 3AW radio, at the time.
Flu signs and symptoms
According to SA Health, these are the signs and symptoms you might experience if you have contracted the flu:
• rapid onset of fever
• headache
• muscle aches
• fatigue
• sneezing
• running nose
• sore throat
• a cough
If you or someone you know is experiencing flu symptoms, seek medical advice and contact your trusted GP.
