SA mum’s warning after partner with pre-existing condition dies from influenza A, RSV
A heartbroken mum is urging SA families to take the flu seriously after her partner, who had a pre-existing condition, died suddenly with his final text to her a chilling warning of what was to come.
A heartbroken mum is urging SA families to take the flu seriously after her partner with a pre-existing condition died suddenly, his last text to her a chilling sign of what was to come.
Navid Mortazavi, 50, had lived with heart failure for a decade when he fell ill with influenza A and RSV earlier this month.
Within days, he was in an induced coma. Less than two weeks later on July 17, he was gone.
His wife Ana Mortazavi said she knew something was wrong when her partner, who hated hospitals, asked her to take him to Flinders Medical Centre on July 5.
“He was at home coughing and wasn’t feeling well … he never liked going to hospital, so for him to say, ‘take me’, I thought something’s really not right,” she said.
The next night, she saw 15 missed calls. Then came the call from the hospital asking if Navid had ever discussed resuscitation.
“They had to bring him back after six to ten minutes … but because there was no oxygen to the brain for so long, they said he was basically brain dead,” Ana said.
Navid was then placed in an induced coma. He never woke up.
Ana said she only received a few texts from him earlier that day. The last one haunts her.
“He said, ‘I don’t think I’m right here, something’s not right. I’m scared.’ And that was it.”
After nearly two weeks on life support, doctors confirmed there was no brain activity, and Ana had to make the heartbreaking call to turn off the machines.
“I told him I loved him when I dropped him off,” she said. “It wasn’t the nicest decision … but there was no brain activity. He was gone.”
Ana is now left to raise their three youngest children, aged one, five and seven, while also supporting Navid’s 18-year-old son from a previous relationship.
She is urging people to take viruses like the flu seriously, especially those with existing health conditions.
“Some people are very stubborn and think, ‘I’ll be right’. But this is something you shouldn’t mess with,” she said.
“He was a good dad, a good partner … everyone loved him. I just don’t want another family to go through what we are.”
A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to support the family through their grief.
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Originally published as SA mum’s warning after partner with pre-existing condition dies from influenza A, RSV
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