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06th Dec 2017

Woman, 20, dies one day after being diagnosed with the flu

She had begun to feel ill a few days beforehand.

Anna O'Rourke

A young mother has passed away just days after falling ill with the flu.

Alani ‘Joie’ Murrieta from Arizona in the US died on Tuesday 28 November.

She and a few family members had felt ill after Thanksgiving the previous Thursday but all had recovered, apart from Alani.

She was sent home from work to rest on the Sunday.

At an emergency clinic the next day, Monday, she was told she had the flu and prescribed an antiviral medicine.

She slept but coughed throughout the night and woke up coughing blood early on Tuesday.

Her family brought her to the hospital, where an X-ray revealed that she had pneumonia from the flu.

Alani was put on antibiotics via a drip but took a turn for the worse.

“She had lost consciousness and they were trying to put her on a ventilator and remove the fluid from her lungs, but it wasn’t working,” her aunt Stephanie Gonzales told Buzzfeed.

She was brought to Intensive Care but her heart stopped and several resuscitation attempts failed and she died after three o’clock in the afternoon.

“She was very healthy and never got sick, she worked six days a week and her job was at a warehouse so she was very active at her job,” said Stephanie.

Alani was mum to two boys, a two-year-old and a six-month-old.

“She would do anything for her sons — and it breaks my heart that the little one, who’s only six months, will grow up without her,” her aunt added.

“All I want people to know is don’t take life for granted.

“If you’re feeling sick, go to the doctor. Know your body and trust how you’re feeling — I would’ve never [have] thought that when she felt sick on Sunday, that it would kill her.”

Her family has set up a GoFundMe page to gather funds for the cost of her funeral.