As family and friends of 13-year-old Evan Frustaglio continue to deal with the shock and sadness of his sudden death, health officials confirmed it was the H1N1 virus that claimed the boy's life.
The Etobicoke teen, described as an enthusiastic hockey player, passed away Monday after falling ill only a few days earlier.
His father is now anxious to get the word out that the disease is serious, and deadly.
"Anybody who has a kid out there that's not feeling good, just pay attention to your kid," a distraught Paul Frustaglio said on Tuesday.
"It hit him like a lightning bolt. So when someone, a doctor, says oh, go home, you know, I wouldn't go home.
"I should have brought him to the hospital but we just did what we were told to do."
Evan reportedly started feeling sick late last week. He was taken to a walk-in clinic Sunday, where a doctor assured his family he’d be okay and sent him home. He collapsed just before noon Monday and was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where he died.
On Tuesday Toronto Public Health officials confirmed the H1N1 virus was the cause of death.
“It is always a tragedy when a child dies,” said Dr. David McKeown, Medical Officer of Health for the City of Toronto. “As a parent and as a health care worker, I extend my sympathies to the boy’s family, his friends at school and his hockey community.”
The grade eight student took part in a hockey tournament in London, Ont. on Saturday night where he reportedly started feeling ill, complaining of a sore neck and throat.
He came home on Sunday, took a bath and went to bed. Paul heard Evan get up and go the bathroom. He went to check on his son and found him lying on the floor.
"I said 'come on, Evan, come on, get up.' I started to pick him up and he collapsed on me," he recalls.
Paul immediately called 911 and performed CPR. Paramedics quickly arrived and took over, rushing Evan to hospital.
But it was too late.
"It just never got any better and they just couldn't revive his little heart."
Evan played for the Greater Toronto Hockey League’s AA minor bantam Mississauga North Stars and coaches have cancelled the team's next two games. Three of Evan's teammates are being treated for flu symptoms.
The teen attended The Hill Academy in Vaughan, which is a sports-oriented private school with just 83 students. Flags at the campus were at half-staff Tuesday morning and classes were cancelled.
“As you can imagine it’s a pretty emotional time for us all, we’re a pretty tight-knit unit here, and Evan was just a bright-eyed boy that loved life and was always eager to do things and to be active and to contribute. He was a great athlete and more so than that he was a great boy with great support from his parents," The Hill Academy's CEO Peter Merrill said Tuesday morning.
"We’re all in shock right now."
Merrill said he wanted to send a message of calm, especially to parents.
"We’ve been working with the public health people over the last … 12, 14 hours and I have to say they’ve been very diligent and very supportive in this whole process," he explained. "We didn’t know what was going on, we heard the sad news and we’re just trying to make sure that we’re being cautious and not panicking and as you can imagine the emotions are running pretty high right now and we’ll be working with the parents all through the day to see if we can work through this."
Hundreds of people have joined a Facebook memorial page set up for Evan and have left several messages of condolence.
This tragic case follows the death of another young person that has been linked to the H1N1 flu.
A pre-teen girl from the Cornwall, Ont. area, believed to have had the swine flu and no apparent pre-existing medical conditions, died in an Ottawa hospital Saturday. The girl was reportedly taken to hospital with mild symptoms which quickly worsened.
Local public health officials also announced an expanded vaccination
program. Clinics were originally slated to open to the general public
on Nov. 2, but now priority groups will be able to get the shot
starting on October 29. Toronto Public Health will post the times and locations as soon as they become available. Here's a list of those eligible to get the shot earlier:
- those under 65 with chronic health conditions
- healthy children between six months and five years of age
- care providers and household contacts of persons at high risk who cannot be immunized or may not respond to vaccines
- health care workers
- pregnant
women - adjuvanted vaccine is available for women who are more than 20
weeks pregnant. Women less than 20 weeks pregnant and who do not have
an underlying medical condition may wish to wait until unadjuvanted
vaccine is available.
Click here for a full list of flu shot clinics around the GTA.