Flu hits DeLand family — Baby delivered prematurely; Mom on life support

PHOTO COURTESY MARY KOENIG
In better times — Crystal and Steven Koenig, happily expecting a child, married in September. Then, Crystal went into the hospital with swine flu Sept. 26, where she remains, on full life-support. The baby was delivered prematurely.

By Pat Hatfield
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Nov 6, 2009 - 8:57:36am

On a Thursday in September, Steven and Crystal Koenig of DeLand were wed, expecting a full life together. Crystal was expecting the couple’s first child.

Steven was a full-time student at Daytona State College; Crystal was an emergency-room nurse in Putnam County.

Two days later, on Sept. 26, Crystal was in the hospital, in intensive care at Halifax Health Medical Center. She had been diagnosed with the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu.

Crystal was always susceptible to bronchitis. Now, she had pneumonia.

She’s been on full life-support since she went into the hospital, said her mother-in-law and family spokeswoman Mary Koenig.

As Crystal’s condition worsened, the baby, a little girl named Zoe Grace, was delivered early in an emergency procedure at 5 p.m. Oct. 27. She weighed 2 pounds, 12 ounces, and measured 15 inches in length. The baby was putting too much pressure on Crystal’s lungs and diaphragm in the sixth month of Crystal’s pregnancy, Mary Koenig explained.

Zoe, affectionately called “a noodle” by her grandmother, has been doing well, Mary Koenig said. She will spend about the first eight weeks of her life in the Halifax neonatal unit.

Crystal’s mom, Judith Osborne, flew down from Maryland when Crystal entered the hospital. She left her car in the short-term parking lot at the airport in Washington, D.C., thinking it would be a short hospital stay.

Now, she’s flown back to retrieve her car. She will return to be with her daughter.

Steven has dropped out of school to tend to Crystal and take care of the two children at home, ages 11 and 15. One child is Steven’s and one is Crystal’s, both from previous marriages. Both are named Gage.

Mary Koenig, who runs the Casa Montessori School in DeLand, said Gage and Gage are doing all right, although they are worried about Crystal and baby Zoe.

Over the weekend Oct. 31-Nov. 1, Crystal’s condition took a turn for the worse. One of her lungs collapsed.

The struggle to save mother and baby has taken an emotional toll on everyone, especially Steven, who’s “worried about losing his wife and child, and having to make terrible decisions,” Mary Koenig said.

The family is trying to get an experimental medicine from England that may help.

In the meantime, expenses are mounting.

Friends of the Koenigs have set up a fund at Mainstreet Community Bank of Florida. The main office is at 204 S. Woodland Blvd. in DeLand, but donations can be made at any branch.

There are branches at 1500 N. Spring Garden Ave. in DeLand and 850 S. Volusia Ave. in Orange City. Note “for Steven and Crystal Koenig” on the check.

On Oct. 24, President Barack Obama declared the swine-flu outbreak a national emergency. It has hit hardest people who already have breathing problems and other medical complications.

On Nov. 2, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (online at http://www.cdc.gov) announced 19 swine-flu deaths among children for the week, the highest since the outbreak began in April. That brought the total of pediatric swine-flu deaths to 114.

The number of swine-flu cases continues to increase, and the CDC now reports the illness is widespread in 48 states, including Florida.

Nationally, a total of 2,916 flu-and-pneumonia-syndrome deaths were reported between Aug. 30 and Oct. 24.

— pat@beacononlinenews.com

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