Teenager dies after catching flu
AN 18-year-old girl has died after contracting flu. Bethany Walker developed pneumonia and was airlifted from her home in Applecross, Wester Ross to Raigmore Hospital. She died last Friday.
A MOTHER has spoken of her devastation after her 18-year-old daughter died in hospital after catching the flu.
Heather Teale paid tribute to her “beautiful girl” Bethany Walker, describing her as “the best daughter I could have ever wished for”.
Miss Walker, from Applecross in Wester Ross, had been suffering from the virus at home before it developed into pneumonia.
The former deputy head girl at Plockton High School, who was due to start studying midwifery this year, was airlifted to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, where she died last Friday.
In a Facebook post, Miss Walker’s mother said: “My beautiful daughter Bethany Walker was taken from me. I am broken, the bottom has fallen out of my world. I have my mum with me, and my wonderful son Danny 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. I’m truly devastated. 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.”
Miss Walker was on a gap year and was due to take up a place in Aberdeen to study midwifery later this year.
Plockton High School said the 18-year-old had been a “kind, caring and gifted” student who had been a “super role model” to younger pupils. In a statement on social media, the school wrote: “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 and where she was so well thought of by the residence staff.
“In S6 Bethany was appointed as our deputy head girl and conducted herself so well on all public occasions and in carrying out her duties.
“It was a privilege for all of us to have taught Bethany, to have known her in her years in the school and to have maintained contact with her after she left.
“It is tragic to lose someone so young and the thoughts of the whole school and the
Sleep tight my beautiful girl, your brother and I will love you forever
hostel are with Bethany’s family at this sad time.”
The teenager also worked at the Applecross Inn, which also paid tribute: “You were the ‘belle of the ball’ at Hogmanay… and indeed everywhere .
“Such a tragic loss of someone so perfect in every way, so polite, such beauty, humour, fun, music and studies. You were pure pleasure as an employee... loved by every member of our team , so much devotion and dedication to all you did.”
It is the second recent tragedy to hit the small Wester Ross community.
Alasdair Macleod, 57, died while fishing for prawns near his home village of Applecross in November. His body was found 15 miles away at Staffin Bay on the Isle of Skye on December 9.