St. Paul family to celebrate 'amazing kid' killed by flu

By Curt Brown, Star Tribune

It still doesn't make any sense to Rieshaun Satar. One month ago today, his 8-year-old son, Lucio, was just another happy-go-lucky St. Paul second-grader who loved baseball, hip-hop and riding inner tubes behind boats.

Then he contracted a cough and fever, and was taken to a clinic. A few days later, after going to the hospital, Lucio was dead from pneumonia.

Doctors said his death was a secondary infection of Type A influenza, making Lucio the first of five Minnesotans whose deaths this year have been attributed to the flu.

"Whenever people talk about kids, they say they're great, but this was the greatest kid in the world," Satar said Friday, sobbing, in his first interview since Lucio's death. "This was an amazing, amazing kid."

Satar, 27, apologized and walked away to compose himself. It wasn't easy. He looked down at his forearm, where earlier this week he had the name "Lucio" tattooed in cursive as a permanent reminder.

Flu-related deaths among children are extremely rare. Nationwide, an estimated 40 children a year die from influenza complications.

Lucio's death has raised awareness of the need for even healthy people to get flu shots.

His family thought that such a robust youngster didn't need a flu shot. Since his death, several agencies and hospitals have organized flu shot clinics and urged families to inoculate their children.

Now Lucio's family is organizing a benefit starting at 6 p.m. Sunday to celebrate his life. Satar, a rhythm-and-blues singer, spent Friday hanging posters to promote the event, which will help defray the family's medical and funeral expenses. He plans to sing a tribute to his late son, joining several local bands at Club Cancun in St. Paul.

"Lucio was just a playful, normal child who enjoyed being with his brothers," said Diana Loredo Satar, his grandmother.

Lucio was the second of three brothers. His younger brother, Rieshaun Jr., turned 7 this week. His older brother, Santino, 10, is still stunned by Lucio's death.

"My youngest son has been a little angry and rebellious," Satar said. "My older son, well, it hasn't hit him yet."

Deaths caused by the flu "can happen to healthy children," said Kris Ehresmann, head of immunizations for the state Health Department. "Thankfully, it's uncommon."

When Lucio first came down with a fever last month, his mother, Yolanda Luera, took him to a Woodbury clinic and he was sent home with bronchitis. When Lucio couldn't shake his fever, they went to the emergency room and were sent home again.

His parents realized how desperate his condition had become when, on his third trip for medical help, Lucio was placed in the intensive care unit at St. Paul Children's Hospital. He died Jan. 31.

"Every moment was heartbreaking, looking at my son breathing off a machine," Satar said. "We thought it was just the flu and the doctors didn't explain anything because they didn't know what was wrong. All they kept telling us was our son was very, very ill."

Satar and Luera, who are divorced, spent Lucio's final days at his side. Luera was unavailable for comment.

"We cried every day, all day," Satar said. "We lay next to his bed and prayed with the Bible while he slept and when he was awake. It just doesn't make sense."

At the boy's funeral Feb. 3, the family was overwhelmed by the support from family, friends and strangers who came to share their grief. That's one reason for Sunday night's event.

"It was just too hard to look up," Satar said.

"I could barely stand on my feet, let alone let everyone know how much I appreciated them."

Lucio's grandmother also hopes that Sunday's get-together will allow the family to say thanks.

"So many people were waiting to at least give us a hug," she said. "This will give us a little more time to spend with everybody who gave us such kind words."

She would like to reach out to the other families who have lost loved ones to the flu, in hopes of starting a support group. Nearly 200 people have posted notes on the guest book at www.caringbridge.org, including this message from one of Lucio's aunts:

"I will never forget that beautiful smile of yours and you will always be in my heart. The lump is no longer there now because I am finally having the good cry I needed to have. These are tears of sadness that you are gone from us, but tears of joy because you are in heaven."

Curt Brown • 651-298-1542 • curt.brown@startribune.com

I wonder if the DR.s at St. Paul childrens ever said, that the boy had regular influenza? The article says, they told the parents he was very,very sick. I would also like to know if they had him in isolation.

Hand sanitizer first defense against pandemic flu

By Drake Lucas , Staff writer
Eagle-Tribune

They've calculated how much anthrax vaccine to compile in case of an outbreak.

They've purchased refrigerators to store medicine that may be needed to treat survivors of a terrorist attack.

More recently, these health professionals have set their sights on containing the spread of a flu pandemic - using hand sanitizers.

The Greater Lawrence Public Health Bioterrorism Coalition, made up of health experts from Andover, North Andover, Methuen, Lawrence, Reading, North Reading and Lynnfield, is using federal funding to start the "Cover Your Cough." It's goal is to raise awareness about daily habits people can form to stop the spread of seasonal flu and, if needed, a more serious pandemic flu.

"Right now it is for seasonal flu. The impact of pandemic flu is different, but the transmission is the same," said Elizabeth Peak-Logue, emergency response coordinator for the coalition. "If we can have people get into the habit now, it will be of value later."

This is the first public campaign launched by the coalition, which was formed in 2004 under the direction of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

In previous years, the coalition has worked on developing plans to prepare for emergencies, making sure communication between different health departments is up-to-date and deciding how many supplies will be needed for future emergencies. The coalition has also purchased supplies, including NEXTEL phones and refrigerators in case they need to stockpile medicines or vaccines.

Now the focus is on preparing communities for an outbreak of pandemic flu, which is more aggressive and widespread than a typical seasonal flu. Humans also have less immunity against the fast-spreading pandemic flu.

Even with the seasonal flu, 5 to 20 percent of the population gets sick every year and 200,000 end up in the hospital, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On average, about 36,000 people die from the flu every year.

By next week, squirt bottles of hand sanitizers will be available on the counters of public places, including town offices, churches and schools. The bottles will be accompanied by a small poster showing the proper way to cough - in the sleeve, not in the hand.

To supplement the campaign, health directors will be training municipal employees on seasonal flu and pandemic flu, and a video about coughing etiquette, called "Why Don't We Do It in Our Sleeves," will be shown on public access television.


Jane Fiore, the health administrator from Reading, came up with the idea after seeing the poster about cough ettiquette on the CDC Web site. She put out hand-sanitizing gel and the posters in December, and she said she has definitely seen people take notice, from kids at the library to contractors visiting the building department.

"It's really created quite a buzz," she said. "People say, 'Oh, you are supposed to use your elbow.'"

She said it's a low-cost, low-maintenance way to spread the word about slowing the spread of disease. She said it also gives something they can do to prepare for the spread of pandemic flu or other respiratory illnesses.

"People need to see what they can control so they don't go into panic mode," she said. "You, as an individual, need to know how you can be prepared."

Massachusetts received $4,684,666 this year from Pandemic Flu Phase II funding from the federal CDC, $15,680 of which has gone to the Greater Lawrence Coalition for a regional public health nurse and public training and education. So far, the group has spent $1,740 to purchase hand sanitizers and plastic easels to display information about cough etiquette.

Tom Carbone, Andover's health director, said washing hands and covering coughs is useful now for this year's flu, but the basics will also be helpful in case of a more deadly disease.

"Every little bit helps," Carbone said. "Basically we are going back to what we learned from our mothers. When you are sick, don't go to school; don't go to work."

Hand-sanitizer stations will be in public locations until April and redistributed in October for next year's cold-and-flu season.

For now, the bottles are only provided in town-operated locations, but North Andover Health Director Susan Sawyer said this can also be done in doctors' offices and private businesses.

"This might encourage other offices to do it on their own," she said.

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Cover Your Cough Campaign

* 168 stations with hand sanitizers and posters concerning coughing etiquette.

* 24 stations in seven communities.

* Two bottles of hand sanitizer purchased for each station.

* $1,092 spent on hand sanitizer.

* $648 spent on 168 plastic easels to hold posters.

Hi nadia Im so sorry to hear that about your son. Nothing compares to this terrible feeling parent's experience when a child is ill.

His last name may be Satar, but he was born and lived in the us his whole life, as had his mom, and that entire side of the family. I don't know the dad as well, but am pretty sure he has been here his whole life too, though i'm not sure of his parents.

He did have a type A strain that would have been covered by the vaccine. You can be assured that vaccines are part of their medical routine now, for the other kids. So that something good could eventually come from this, his story and image have been given to Families Fighting Flu to help their immunization campaigns. In the years since, many people now get the vaccines we once left for those who were elderly, immune compromised, or working in health care. This was just changing then, the vaccine was available in enough quantity, but the word wasn't fully out that everyone could and should get it.