Grieving grandmother: Disease struck so fast
Susan Green had been planning to take her grandson on a special birthday trip to the Gold Coast next February.
The tickets were booked and 8-year-old Bernard Alefaio was looking forward to spending his time splashing around at Wet n Wild.
One day in September, Bernard woke with a sore tummy. Before the day ended he was dead.
Bernard was one of the six New Zealanders who died from a new strain of meningococcal disease, known as MenW this year.
The rate at which Bernard’s health deteriorated left Green, who had custody of him, and his two younger siblings, shell-shocked.
‘‘It all happened so fast – I woke him up for school and he told me he had a tummy ache. Around midday I had to go to work so I checked in on him to see if he wanted to go to the doctor but he said it wasn’t too bad.’’
About 5pm, Green received a call telling her Bernard was being rushed to Starship children’s hospital and might not make it.
‘‘My adult daughter had gone in to check on him,’’ Green said, ‘‘and she found him lying on his bed just clenching his fists.
‘‘They did everything they could at the hospital, he didn’t even show signs of a rash until he was already there, it all just happened so fast.’’
The family were called in to say their farewells shortly before midnight.
‘‘It was all so fast, he didn’t have many symptoms – even now we still don’t know how exactly he got it but the nurse told us it was airborne.’’
Following Bernard’s death a district health nurse was sent to Green’s home in Massey and everyone who was close to Bernard in his final days was vaccinated for the strain.
In the community of Massey, West Auckland, where Green and Bernard lived, Bernard is remembered as a humble boy with many friends.
Green said parents and caregivers need to be aware of the signs and symptoms of the disease and just how fast it was.
‘‘Just be aware of it. I didn’t know the symptoms or how fast it could happen, it has caused me a lot of turmoil and I blame myself a lot for not being there. It’s been very hard on our whole family.’’
Clinical microbiologist David