New Zealand father was put in coma days after wife died from the flu

A woman who died a day after being discharged from hospital had passed her illness to her husband, who was put in a coma while his boys mourned.

A New Zealand father is now on the road to recovery after emerging from a medically induced coma following a battle with a deadly flu that tragically killed his wife.

John Leonard’s health rapidly declined after the death of his wife, Maria Packe-Leonard.

Maria, 53, passed away on July 21, just 10 days after showing symptoms of influenza A.

John’s illness caused severe complications in his lungs and saw him transferred from Wellington to Auckland for specialised treatment. Although he remains in intensive care, John has been able to communicate with his two sons, Jed, 15, and Sam, 14.

A woman who died a day after being discharged from hospital had passed her illness to her husband, who was put in a coma while his boys mourned.

Maria’s brother Darrell Packe shared that his sister, who was a registered nurse, began feeling unwell around July 11, suffering from a persistent cough.

Her lungs were ravaged by the illness. She sought medical help at Hutt Hospital on July 20 but was discharged. Tragically, her condition deteriorated and she died the very next day.

John has been fighting the affliction for weeks, requiring specialist lung equipment to mediate his illness.

“He came close to death on a number of occasions so to have him back and able to communicate is very, very special for everyone involved and especially his boys,” Mr Packe told the New Zealand Herald.

The family has postponed Maria’s funeral, hoping that John will be able to attend.

“At times it didn’t seem like it might work out that way, but it looks now like he’s going to recover and we can have a funeral with him there and with him being part of the planning, which will be very special,” Packe said.

“In his mind, now that he can read all the messages and see all the wellwishers, that’s really been special for him and it’s buoyed him and that will help his recovery, you know, just knowing he’s got so many people who care.”

John remains in recovery in the ICU, and the family is unsure when he will be discharged.

John is now on the road to recovery.

Jed and Sam have been forced to cope with the death of their mother while also witnessing their dad fight for his life in hospital with the same illness.

“This has come in waves, because they’ve obviously lost their mum and while they’re dealing with that, having to be strong for their dad. So yeah, hard to describe,” Packe said.

“We’re only just able to start grieving Maria properly, just due to being so concerned about John, really. All our energy went into helping John and being there for John. [There’s] a couple of waves of different emotions at the moment.”

A Givealittle campaign has been set up to raise funds to support the family throughout the heartbreaking period.

“We’re watching that and it’s quite humbling. You see people put 100 bucks in and you see people put five bucks in. It all means the same to us,” he said.

“It’s been fantastic how the community has been around all this, I just want to reiterate all that.”

Originally published as New Zealand father was put in coma days after wife died from the flu