The B Is For “Bad” — Amiah’s Story
We want the best health outcomes possible for all North Dakotans, and we believe when our neighbors share their stories with others, it helps all of us identify and address the barriers affecting our own communities. This is the story of Bethany Drapeau’s four-year-old daughter, Amiah, who died in 2017 after contracting influenza B.
People don’t know how serious it can get.
- Bethany Drapeau
Amiah was only in preschool, but the little curly haired girl who loved playing at the park already knew what she wanted to be when she grew up: a YouTuber.
“She’d record herself doing puzzles,” her mother, Bethany Drapeau, told us. “She loved puzzling, she loved dancing, and she loved dressing up and playing with makeup. She was a girly girl.”
Amiah, her younger sister, her two older sisters, and Bethany were living in our neighbor state of South Dakota in 2017 when Amiah came down with a slight fever. At first, Bethany didn’t think much of it. Her daughter’s favorite holiday was approaching — Easter — and the four-year-old’s spirits were high despite being a bit under the weather.
“She noticed all of the Easter stuff in the back of my van and said, “Oh my gosh, Mom! That’s why I like you: You’re a cool mom. You get all the cool stuff.’”
Bethany and her daughters went about their Easter plans. They dyed eggs. They got together with family to celebrate the holiday — Bethany and her family are from the Yankton Sioux reservation.
“She felt kind of warm,” Bethany said. “Her eyes looked like she was getting sick, but it wasn’t too bad of a fever. When we went home Monday morning, she started getting worse.”
Bethany took four-year-old Amiah to her local doctor’s office, where a provider told her it was only a mild virus, and to keep an eye on her and give her fluids. Two days later, though, Amiah’s symptoms hadn’t changed. Bethany took her daughter back to the doctor, where she was given the same instructions: give fluids and over-the-counter medication.
Bethany knew her child, and she suspected this was more than just a mild virus, but she did what doctors told her and brought Amiah home. When her daughter stopped eating, Bethany knew something was very wrong.
“I took her in a third time, and they finally tested her for influenza and strep. The test came back positive for jnfluenza B,” she told us. “And they said, ‘The B is for bad, so keep a close watch on her.’”
Because it’d been too long since her symptoms began, her local doctor couldn’t give Amiah the prescription medication that may have eased her symptoms. When her daughter could no longer keep fluids down, Bethany brought Amiah to the emergency room. Tests revealed that her kidney levels were off, and soon after Amiah was life-flighted to the children’s hospital in Sioux Falls. What started as influenza B had turned into pneumonia, followed by sepsis.
A team was called in to help with Amiah’s case, but it was already too late. Within just 12 hours, her organs had shut down, less than a week after she began showing symptoms. Amiah was four years old when she died.
Bethany is grateful for the Sioux Falls team for doing everything they could to help Amiah after she was transferred out of local care, and she encourages parents to listen to their gut instincts and get a second opinion if they suspect something is wrong with their child.
“Keep taking them in if they aren’t getting better,” she says. “Sometimes you have to really fight and look out for yourself.”
She also urges parents to make sure their children are immunized each year against influenza so they’re protected against the virus, which resulted in approximately 360,000 hospitalizations across the U.S. last flu season alone, according to the CDC. Bethany notes that while she’d gotten a flu shot that year, her kids had not. Since her daughter’s death, Bethany makes sure Amiah’s sisters gets vaccinated before every flu season.
“Get your flu shot, because it can help you,” she says. “People don’t know how serious it can get. The odds of getting over the flu are a lot better than when you don’t have [the flu shot].”
Today, Bethany keeps her daughter’s memory alive through her advocacy work with Families Fighting Flu, and through the shop she opened in 2019 in Amiah’s name. She also feels her daughter’s presence whenever she goes to pow wows.
“Amiah was a jingle dress dancer, and that’s a healing dance,” she says. “It still reminds me of her when I see jingle dress dancers.”
If you have a story about how an illness, disease, or any other health-related issue has impacted your life, we want to hear from you. Share your story with us here. It could help your neighbors — and create a healthier North Dakota for all of us.