Whitley High student, hospitalized with H1N1 virus, to come home later this week

A Whitley County High School student recently hospitalized with the H1N1 virus, as well as pneumonia, is doing significantly better and could even go home later this week, her mother said.

Sharon Jones told the News Journal that her daughter, WCHS freshman Cierra Jones, is improving daily and said she has come a long way in the past 15 days. Despite her recent progress, Jones said her daughter didn’t realize the scope of her illness nor what she had been through over the past two weeks.

"I really just sat her down and talked to her about it Monday and explained what all had been going on," Sharon Jones said. "Cierra thought she had maybe lost two of three days while she was unconscious and didn’t realize how long she had been down.

"As for her progress, she is doing really great and seems to be improving every day," she added. "She is eating regular food now and she is slowly regaining her strength and walking around a little bit. The way things look we may be able to go home Thursday or Friday."

In addition to the staff at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, Sharon said she feels like the support her daughter has received has been one of the contributing factors in her recovery. From students and family friends, she said everyone who has prayed or wished them well deserves a big thank you.

"It really does help you deal with things such as this if you have a good support group behind you," she said. "Everyone has really been great about lending a hand or just voicing their support.

"As for Cierra, she knew we were there the whole time she was in the coma because she would respond to us when we spoke or were in the room talking," she added. "Anytime you have the support we have had, it makes things easier and this hospital staff has been nothing short of great the whole time we have been here."

Sharon said doctors diagnosed Cierra Jones with pneumonia at Baptist Regional Medical Center on Sept. 23. Jones said that the next day, Sept. 24, doctors at the Jellico Community Hospital sent her daughter to ETCH and put her on a ventilator, where she remains.

According to Jones, doctors at BRMC never tested Cierra for H1N1, and when she told doctors her daughter had been coughing up blood, they said her throat was likely raw from coughing too much.

Sharon Jones said she felt like doctors may be growing a little too complacent when dealing with the possibility of the H1N1 virus and that each case needs to be treated a little differently.

"It is frustrating because they are telling people to just wait and see how it plays out," Jones said. "You can’t afford to wait because this is the type of thing that can happen."