Swine flu kills East Lancashire mum

Lindsay Goddard, from Colne, who worked in the pharmacy at the St Peter's Centre, Burnley, was described as fit and healthy by her family.

But what started as a cold progressed into a serious illness that killed her 10 days later.

She leaves her daughters Georgia, 17, Romy,12 and Mia, eight.

Paying tribute, her family said she was 'a great mum', 'bubbly' and 'caring'.

Georgia said: "My mum had no underlying illnesses. She didn't have asthma and hadn't been diagnosed with anything. She was a smoker, but that’s it.

“I had a cold and she got my cold. She seemed to be getting a bit better. But she was struggling with breathing.

“We rang NHS Direct and they sent out an ambulance because they didn't know what it was.”

The healthcare assistant at St Peter's Pharmacy in Burnley would have received the swine flu vaccine but was on long-term leave.

She was not considered as being 'at risk' from the H1N1 virus as she did not have any underlying health problems so did not receive the annual flu jab.

Lindsay, of Langroyd Road, stocked up on over-the-counter medicines and stayed in bed.

But when she struggled for breath she was rushed to Blackburn Royal Blackburn Hospital.

Medics gave Lindsay antibiotics and steroids to treat what was suspected as either pneumonia or swine flu.

Doctors discovered her oxygen level was at just 75 per cent – critically low – and because her lungs had stopped working properly, put her on a ventilator in a critical care ward.

She spent a week in hospital being treated with Tamiflu, and doctors planned to give her a tractotomy to help her breathing.

However, during this time she developed internal bleeding to her bowel, after the virus affected her blood flow.

The family said she underwent two operations, removing a large part of her bowel, but by now doctors said her liver had also been affected.

Lindsay's mum, Christine Deignan, 58, said: “They left her open for another surgery. They said they were playing it hour by hour.

“But they said there was nothing they could do for her.”

Lindsay's cause of death was recorded as multiple organ failure, H1N1 pneumonia and bowel ischaemia.

Georgia said: “It was so quick. It was a week and then she was gone. Even the doctors in hospital were shocked.

“She was knocked out the whole week. There was nothing at all, no twitches, she didn't open her eyes, she was just on machines.

“It was heartbreaking when we went to say goodbye to her after she had gone.

“All the machines were on standby and we just wanted to turn them back on.”

The family said Lindsay had caught suspected swine flu the year before, but had overcome it after being prescribed Tamiflu.

The divorced mum had just found a new house with her fiancée Steve Rhodes, and was planning to re-marry.

A funeral took place on Thursday to mark Lindsay’s death on December 19, followed by a celebration of her life at her favourite pub, The Queens Hotel in Colne.

Georgia said: “She was bubbly, crazy, eccentric. She was very caring. She loved going out with her mates. She was a great mum, she was fantastic.

“She was one of those people as soon as you met her you couldn't not like her.”

Christine said Lindsay’s fun-loving character was still present the last time she talked to her daughter.

She said: “She made tea and she was happy.

“We didn't really take it that seriously. Everybody gets colds, flu symptoms, diarrhoea and sickness bugs, so how do you know? I had no worries about her at all.”

The grandmother said she was still confused and angry why her daughter became so ill when the rest of the family, who hadn’t been vaccinated either, didn’t catch the bug.

She said: “None of us got it and we don't know why. We were with her all the time. We had to wear a mask in the hospital but I took it off to kiss her."

And the family are determined to raise awareness about the killer virus.

Christine said: “I put on Facebook that Lindsay had died of this thing and said 'get all the information you can about swine flu’.

“I wouldn't have known how to save Lindsay. But this needs to be a warning to everybody.

“Everybody can get it, and it's much bigger than they are making it out to be.

“Last year it was all this big thing, this year they are playing it down.

“Swine flu or H1N1 is a joke name for something so devastating.

“It needs its name changing. It's not something with letters and numbers.

“I hope we can help somebody but I can't see how. I can only say they should go for these vaccinations.”

The Lancashire Telegraph’s health expert Dr Tom Smith said Lindsay's case was 'exceptionally rare', but consistent with other deaths from the virus.

He said that when H1N1 first struck in 1918 and early 1919 it was responsible for 23 million deaths, killing many healthy people, and that was why there was so much concern when it resurfaced in 2009.

He said: “It's usually younger people who are very healthy and haven't had this flu before, but we don't know why.

“Her immune system may have had a particular problem.

"We don't understand enough about why some people react like this, but this is typical of the type of death you get from swine flu.

“It's just a really excessive reaction of the immune system to the virus, which seems to cause a tremendous reaction in the circulation, which shuts down the circulation of blood not just to the bowel but to the kidney, the liver and other organs.

“We just know it's a very frightening thing. It's not a subject we can be very reassuring about – it really is a mystery why some people react like this.

“It's terrible for the family but it's fortunate that there haven't been more deaths.”