Gladys G

My story started Feb. 13, 2018. I got on Facebook and a friend of Gladys and myself messaged me saying he still couldn’t believe what happened to her. I responded “what?” I then quickly went to Gladys’ Facebook page and saw tributes to her and her family, people saying that she had passed away. I was in shock!! Gladys had sent me a simple message last Saturday, it read “I have the flu.” I didn’t see it until Mon. and responded to be careful the flu has been killing a lot of people this year. Everyone around me has been sick, so I didn’t think too much about it. I learned today, that she had been sick for 2 weeks and didn’t go to the hospital. I learned that she went to the hospital on Mon. the 12th, collapsed, never woke back up, and passed away Tues. morning around 6:30 a.m. I learned that she was on a ventilator, her flu had turned into pneumonia, and she was septic. I didn’t know what septic meant exactly. I didn’t know that the flu could turn into pneumonia. I started researching it and found this page. I thought leaving her story would be cathartic. She was only 39 years old. She was a beautiful soul. When she told me “i love you” I knew she meant it. We had only been friends about 4 years but, she was a close friend. She left behind her 1.5 year old son that I know she waited her whole life for. She was so happy to be a mom!!!!!!!!!!! Motherhood made her glow, and her son is such a happy, loving little boy. He is this way because Gladys was so wonderful with him. She was supposed to become a surrogate mother this month for a couple she didn’t even know. She was so excited and happy to be helping a couple have a family that they couldn’t have. She wanted everyone to have the happiness she felt. She gave of herself whole-heartedly in everything she did. She worked two jobs, and wanted a good life for her son. She was living an hour and a half from me, so we didn’t see each other as often as we’d liked to. I regret not calling her, not urging her to go to the hospital sooner. Her son had been sick, and I wondered when she took him to the doctor, didn’t they tell her how dangerous the flu is this year?! All these questions running through my head, not many answers. She will be laid to rest in California, where the rest of her family lives. (She had been living in Iowa.) I will miss my dear friend, Gladys, I will miss her forever!!

Source: Carmen Vance, Dear Friend