Update of preschool teacher from Galesburg dies

what stikes me so odd is her  temperature rose too 108.5 degrees fever in the end, come on she got the best medical treatment possable for that area for bacterial meningitis. it shouldn't of kill her? and fluid in her lungs? odd looks like bird flu..

http://www.register-mail.com/stories/042406/MAI_B9KDU3VN.GID.shtml

'First-class all the way'

Redington remembered by community she touched

Monday, April 24, 2006

By TAMMY BOULD

The Register-Mail

GALESBURG - Thousands of people are mourning the loss of Sheila Redington, a mother of four, preschool teacher and cheerleading coach whose bubbly personality and unforgettable smile have been an inspiration to many.

The 44-year-old Galesburg woman died at 7:12 a.m. Sunday in OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria from bacterial meningitis.

Her husband, Tim Redington, posted the news at 8:14 a.m. Sunday on a Web page the family set up to keep friends and family informed about her condition.

"I decided at the start of Sheila's illness to be open and share everything we knew because I knew how much Sheila means to so many people," he wrote. "I wish I could tell everybody how much all the support has meant to my family. I don't know how else to tell you but at 7:12 I just lost my love, my life and best friend."

More than 16,000 visits had been logged at the Web site and more than 800 people had left messages for the Redingtons by Monday morning.

"I have been around town today," wrote Tom Simkins on Sunday evening. "There is nowhere free of the sadness of Sheila's passing."

Many people who never met Redington have been compelled to write to the family and offer their condolences, after being inspired by her positive influence on others and saddened by the tragedy of her illness and sudden death.

"I can't help but feel like I knew her in some small way, just by the loving words spoken of her," one local resident wrote Sunday afternoon.

Redington was a preschool teacher at Costa Catholic School and the head cheerleading coach at Galesburg High School. She began experiencing flu-like symptoms early last week and was taken by helicopter to OSF St. Francis Medical Center on Wednesday.

"A couple days into it, we thought she was doing better," Tim Redington said Saturday evening. "It's like slamming into a brick wall."

Saturday night her temperature rose to 108.5 degrees. Her lungs were starting to fill with fluid from the extra fluids she was being given because of the fever and the ventilator, which had been doing about 40 percent of her breathing but was turned back up to 100 percent.

Tim Redington said the family knew for about an hour before her passing Sunday morning that she was not going to make it.

"My heart is very heavy," Costa Catholic School Principal Carolyn Koos said this morning.

Costa lowered the school's flag to half-staff this morning and had a prayer service open to the community. Koos said two grief counselors will be at the preschool today, and that the entire school will likely be closed the day of the funeral. She said community members are welcome to attend the 7:30 a.m. rosary service Friday at the school.

Costa officials said Monday that people were offering condolences at the school by leaving flowers at the door to the preschool.

The school is taking donations for the Sheila Redington Preschool Scholarship. Donations may be made by calling the school at 344-3155. F and M Bank is collecting funds to help the Redington family with medical expenses.

Grief counselors were on hand for students and staff at Galesburg High School today, according to high school principal Diane Hutchins. They will be available Tuesday and Wednesday, too.

Galesburg District 205 superintendent Gene Denisar said in a statement released this morning that the staff and student body are deeply saddened by Redington's death and wish to express their condolences and support to the entire Redington family.

Redington also taught cheerleading at Carl Sandburg College's Kids on Campus. This would have been her fourth year.

CSC celebrated its 40th anniversary with an open house Sunday. Before CSC President Tom Schmidt opened the event, he asked for a moment of silence in remembrance of Redington.

"It is hard to imagine the lives that were touched directly by her, as well as indirectly," Schmidt said. "I chose to champion and cherish the experience we've had in this community and especially draw attention to the grace with which the rest of her family has dealt with what is truly a tragedy. ... Thank you for being here and conveying our best thoughts and prayers to that family."

Krissa Creech, the Kids on Campus coordinator had known Redington for 16 years. She said Redington was "fantastic to work with" and the children "just dearly loved her."

Creech's daughter is a GHS cheerleader and she said Redington taught her daughter more than just how to cheer.

"There are no words to describe what kind of person she was," Creech said. "Warm, tender and just first-class all the way."

Funeral arrangements for Redington were pending at press time.

Edited by chargingbear - April 24 2006 at 10:52am

I think this story is very sad.......    does anyone know if there will be any testing done for BF? 

Galesburg, Illinois

Give chargingbear a break. I like his posts and he is doing a great job .

We are all in this together and need to pull together.

Thanks for the info chargingbear and the pictures.

Poor woman she seems so nice.  

Dyslexics can be very intelligent.  I had a daughter nearly killed in an accident at the age of one.  She had three surgeries before she was two years old and was repeatedly under general anesthesia while being operated on. 

When she started school, she had tremendous difficulty with her ABC's. To her b's looked like p's which looked like q's and they all looked like d's.

There was a problem with e's and s's  AND e's and c's.  The w's looked like v's and v's looked like u's AND l's and t's were confusing, too.

She is 22 now and is an A's student in her senior year of college.  Her mother and I have to proofread papers that she is submitting for her classes.  She is intelligent, but just mixes up the letters some of the times, still.

Dyslexia does not mean stupid, but it can be from damage to part of the brain.  I believe that the General Anesthesia at such a young age may have caused the dyslexia, but will never know for certain. I just know my daughter is a bright light in my life.

I welcome the posts of any dyslexic.  If they can express what they are trying to say, they are doing fine in my book.

Let's not critique each others grammar or spelling here.  If you are able to read a post and understand its meaning, then a few misspelled words or grammatical errors are irrelevant.  The important thing to me is the information provided in the posts.  Chargingbear is doing an excellent job, in my opinion.

Get off the dyslexic's. They just see things alittle differently than we do. I know plenty of dyslexic's that have well above average I.Q.'s. I went through medical with a lady that was dyslexic. I am not dyslexic, I just can not spell. Johnray1

As a former English teacher, all I have to say is .  . .

OK - ENOUGH all ready!! Geeeze! Get back to Bird Flu!!!!

ARDS = acute respiratory distress syndrome. It's not limited to Adults. Doc.

By the way, I'd like to announce a TROLL ALERT on you're behalf!!!

I would like to say that this is not helping the forum one bit and maybe we should just not respond to TROLL LIKE PEOPLE who are managing to take us off the point of the POINT OF THE POST WHICH IS NEWS!

Wow. The whole point of this site is to get information on BirdFlu.We dont have time to fight.Lets be positve. Its not hard.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-04-24-flu-quarantine_x.htm

Edited by Lilacs - April 25 2006 at 2:06pm

Plainly, although Sonny may actually have the best of intentions, clearly, he is in the wrong forum. Sonny, please, please, please post information on the bird flu. Part of evolution is adaptation and you are not adapting and that is causing great frustration for you. Please stop correcting us and we will be nice. It puts us on the defensive. Go with the flow here and adapt. You will learn from us believe it or not, if you only accept our flaws. All of us after all, are only human and not out to destroy society. We are not grammar terrorists intentionally.

Sonny, if you do, please start a new topic for that please.

 I'm all for that!!!  Maybe he could proofread our posts for syntax too!!!

I vote to have this nut banned from the forum.

I'm SURE it was an "experiment" all along..... or maybe it BECAME an "experiment" as soon as you realized that your posts were being critiqued for grammar and punctuation errors and criticized for the lack of relevant information. 

Edited by jackson - April 25 2006 at 8:36am

And now, we return to our program already in progress.

Ack, the new math!!! I always hated that stuff. I was much better at grammer.

Several words come to mind, the kindest of which would be intensive therapy, psychotropic medication and straightjacket.