Northeast Boy Dies after Getting Swine Flu

EL PASO---- A Northeast El Paso boy has died after getting the swine flu, City Health Dept. Officials.

Brandon Gonzales, 9, died last Thursday, but it was not until today NewsChannel 9 we got confirmation the boy had swine flu.

Parents at the school are finding out too.

Mother of one of Gonzales' fellow classmates Emma Caradine was taken aback by the news we gave her.

Staff at Dr. Lawrence A. Nixon Elementary notified her that Gonzales died last week, but she did not know until we told her he died from the swine flu.

"We also have a right to protect our kids. And ourselves. So I don't have to know the specifics, but I would like to know (from the school) if he did die of the H1N1,"

School district leaders say they just found out and confirmed it.
They'll be sending out notices Thursday.

An EPISD spokeswoman says it doesn't appear there's a lot of flu going around right now.

Attendance was near 97 percent last week, a day after Gonzales died.

Another Nixon Elementary mother says she's not that worried about her kids getting sick.

"Most of the things.. it's from complications, not hydrating, or shutting down from pneumonia," said Jamie Worster, who has chosen not to vaccinate her children with the H1N1 vaccine.

NewsChannel 9 has not been able to confirm if brandon did or did not have an underlying condition, but in his obituary printed last Sunday his family writes, "Dad, Mom and brother, Evan are sad that you were taken from us, but your pain is no more."

Gonzales is now the second child in El Paso County to die after getting the virus, the 10th person overall.