Fit and healthy teen dies one day after he was diagnosed with the flu

The family of a healthy teenager have been plunged into shocked grief after he died hours after being diagnosed with the flu.

William Jones, 16 was found unresponsive in his bed by his mother Rebecca Rollason at their home near Wellington, in New Zealand, on June 14.

She called the doctor a day earlier after William developed a sore throat and cough two days prior.

The doctor told the concerned mother-of-three to give William plenty of fluids and to call again the next day if she was still worried about his condition. 

She went to check on William the following morning, but the teenager was already dead. 

‘We just don’t understand how this can happen to a boy who was barely ever sick and was very healthy,’ Ms Rollason told the New Zealand Herald. 

‘We ask ourselves how what started as a sore throat, snotty nose and a cough on Tuesday to no longer with us three days later.’

Almost three weeks on, William’s shattered family they still don’t how he died.

The grieving family are still waiting for results from specialists to determine the cause of death. 

William was a talented musician who attended Upper Hutt College. 

He got his driver’s license last year, just weeks after he celebrated his 16th birthday. 

Friends, loved ones and the local community have been left shattered by his death. 

William was farewelled by loved ones, friends, teachers and classmates  at his funeral on June 21. 

Ms Rollason told mourners that William looking forward to his future. 

‘William was an amazing, talented and very bright kind boy who we love so very much,’ she said.

A lifelong friend of Ms Rollason’s set up a fundraiser on Givealittle to help the family cover the funeral costs.

‘It is every parents worst nightmare and a shocking tragedy to lose a healthy child from a sudden and brief illness,’ Amanda Amies wrote.

Almost $15,500 has been raised so far. 

‘Rebecca and family would like all to know that are incredibly grateful for all the support and kindness,’ the latest fundraiser update states.

Health officials have urged Kiwis to be aware of and protect themselves from respiratory illnesses such as influenza, Covid-19 and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) during winter.

The flu accounts for two per cent of deaths in New Zealand every year.  

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