Swine-flu victim a “vibrant little girl”

As soon as 6-year-old Heaven Wilson stepped off the school bus, her grandmother guessed that she wasn't feeling well.

Two days later, the Amelia County first-grader was rushed to CJW Medical Center (Chippenham), where she spent nearly two weeks before she died of swine flu late Wednesday.

Family members said Heaven was hooked up to breathing tubes when she mouthed her last words: "Don't let me die."

As relatives made funeral arrangements, last night school officials told parents in a telephone alert that all Amelia schools will be closed throughout next week because of flu illness, said School Board Chairman Damon Moyer. Schools and buses will be cleaned thoroughly, he said.

Heaven became the 10th person in Virginia to die of causes related to H1N1 flu.

The girl's grandmother, Patricia Sparrow, said Heaven was sick when she got home from school Oct. 7 and was taken to the doctor the next day. She had a sore throat and a temperature of 103 degrees. The doctor said she had the flu but didn't diagnose her as having the H1N1 virus, Sparrow said.

Sparrow said the doctor told her to take Heaven home and give her water and broth and Tylenol. Sparrow said she followed the instructions.

Heaven's mother, Sara Wilson, and her husband were out of town. The couple and Wilson's two sons, ages 1 and 9, live with Sparrow in Jetersville, as did Heaven. Wilson is four months pregnant.

Heaven, a first-grader at Amelia Elementary School, woke Sparrow around dawn the morning after she went to the doctor and said she couldn't breathe. Sparrow said she called 911, and an ambulance took the girl to the hospital.

"By the time they got to Chippenham hospital, she was blue" and had a fever of 106 degrees, Sparrow said.

Heaven was unconscious for much of her time at the hospital and on a respirator the entire time, Sparrow said. Family members stayed by her side, praying often.

In one of Heaven's waking moments, Wilson said, her daughter mouthed the words "I love you, Mommy."

Another time, Sparrow's ex-husband, Edward Sparrow, said he asked Heaven if she was having sweet dreams. "She shook her little head no," he said.

After Heaven developed pneumonia in both lungs and a staph infection and underwent three blood transfusions, she was taken off life support.

"I held her and cradled her in my arms until she was gone," Wilson said.

Heaven, nicknamed "Sissy," recently had learned to ride a bike without training wheels, wanted to play soccer and hoped to resume ballet lessons, her grandmother said. Edward Sparrow planned to teach her to play the guitar.

"Make sure that your kids get thoroughly checked out," Wilson said, "and make sure the school they go to is thoroughly sanitized."

Heaven's death occurred when flulike illness seemed to be on the decline in the 1,812-student Amelia school system. At one point last week, daily absences rose to 333 students, but by Thursday that number had dropped to 229.

David M. Gangel, school superintendent, said he was not surprised that absences increased to 311 yesterday, a rise he said was likely due to the child's death.

The school system was originally told that enough H1N1 vaccine for everyone would arrive by this past Tuesday, he said. On Wednesday, the school system got enough vaccine for only prekindergarten through second grades, and fewer than 50 percent of those students had returned parental permission slips.

Family and close friends of Heaven will gather for a viewing tomorrow from 5 to 7 p.m. at Joseph McMillian Funeral Home, 1826 Cox Road in Nottoway County.

Contact Reed Williams at (804) 649-6332 or .

Contact Joe Macenka at (804) 649-6804 or .