18-year-old victim of flu outbreak that’s killed 85
A TEENAGE girl has died after developing pneumonia following a battle with flu.
Bethany Walker, 18, was airlifted from her home in a remote village and died in hospital the same day.
The youngster was flown 80 miles to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness with her mother by her side. However, despite the efforts of intensive care staff, she died within hours.
Bethany’s mother, Heather Teale, paid tribute to the former deputy head girl and prize-winning pupil, who had dreams of becoming a midwife.
‘My beautiful daughter was taken from me yesterday,’ said Mrs Teale on social media after the tragedy.
‘She was given the best possible treatment from a team of eight people for over two hours, they tried everything possible but sadly, despite their best efforts, she didn’t make it.
‘I am broken, the bottom has fallen out of my world. I have my Mum with me, and my wonderful son Danny Walker who are both feeling the same loss as I am.
‘Life will never be the same again. Bethany, I love you to the moon and back, I always have and I always will, you were the best daughter I could have ever wished for and I will always be the proudest mum in the world.
‘I have no more words. Sleep tight my beautiful girl, your brother and I will love you forever, you will never be out of my thoughts as long as I live.’ Bethany lived in Applecross, in the Western Highlands, and was a pupil at Plockton High School.
During the week she boarded in a hostel because her home was so remote.
Rector Susan Galloway said Bethany left in the summer of 2017 ‘after six very successful years, to take a gap year before taking up her place in Aberdeen to study midwifery’.
‘Bethany was a kind, caring, gifted and exceptionally conscientious student and a super role-model for younger pupils both in the school itself and in the hostel where she resided during the week.’
Tributes from friends also poured in on social media. Broadcaster and naturalist Monty Halls, who lived on the Applecross peninsula while filming the Great Escapes TV series, wrote: ‘I am so, so sorry to hear this news – it is beyond comprehension. Every member of the film crew for Great Escapes remembers her so fondly, a total delight. My deepest condolences.’
Pneumonia is an infection in which the tiny air sacs in the lungs become inflamed and fill up with fluid. It affects around eight in 1,000 adults a year.
It is more common in autumn and winter and can strike when the immune system is weakened by other conditions such as flu.