Mom of a 16-year-old Kid from Upper Hutt College who Passed Away at Home

The 16-year-old boy’s mother, who is devastated, cannot believe her usually healthy son has passed away. Her son passed away within days of what began as a sore throat.

After experiencing a cold and sore throat a few days prior, Rebecca Rollason discovered her son William unconscious in bed on Friday, June 14.

Rebecca told the Herald, “As you can imagine, we just don’t understand and cannot believe he is gone.” It seems like the greatest nightmare from which we are unable to awaken.

Within weeks after turning sixteen, William, an adored and gifted musician at Upper Hutt College, joyfully obtained his driver’s license. He was generally in good condition, but on Tuesday, June 11, he began to experience coughing and sore throat.

When Rebecca phoned the doctor on Thursday, the doctor told her William had the flu and advised her to drink lots of water. If Rebecca was still worried, she should call again on Friday.

When Rebecca went to see her son that morning, she discovered him unconscious in bed.

She remarked, “We just don’t understand how this can happen to a boy who was very healthy and rarely sick.”

We question how, three days later, a sore throat, runny nose, and cough that began on Tuesday could have vanished from our lives.

Nobody knows what occurred. Thus, nobody can comprehend. We need to wait for the outcome.

Rebecca noted that her son’s untimely passing had saddened her son’s classmates, other Upper Hutt College students, and the larger community.

A week later, classmates, old professors, and members of the Upper Hutt community came to his funeral to say goodbye.

Condolences:

She remarked, “William was an incredible, gifted, intelligent, and kind boy we love so much.”

He had a clear goal for his future and was a gifted pianist. For us, it’s a terrible and challenging moment.

Rebecca’s friend created a Givealittle page to assist with funeral expenses and to ease the financial burden so that Rebecca and William’s two brothers could take their time grieving.

In addition to generously contributing to the website, friends, past students, and community members sent sincere tributes to William, calling him “a wonderful friend” and “sweet young man.”

According to Rebecca, William is a wonderful boy with big dreams for the future. “Life will never be the same without my gorgeous 16-year-old boy.”

This tragedy co-occurs as medical professionals have warned New Zealanders about the hazards of respiratory viruses, such as the common cold-causing rhinovirus, COVID-19, influenza, and RSV, throughout the winter months.

Although COVID-19 has emerged as the leading infectious disease killer in New Zealand, flu continues to be a significant burden, contributing to around 2 percent of fatalities every year.

However, influenza-related mortality in younger, healthy individuals was scarce; the majority of deaths each year were recorded in our population over 65.

During an influenza A epidemic in February, six residents of Whitianga Care Centre and Village passed away within two weeks of one another.

According to ESR monitoring, most tested cases were A/H1N1, sometimes known as the “swine flu,” a strain that is particularly harmful to small children and older people. National rates of influenza-like illness were running at usual rates for the time of year.

This year’s flu vaccine, currently freely available to those over 65 and other higher-risk groups, included H1N1 as one of its target strains.