Sisters warning others about deadly form of strep after losing their parents

Their mum’s contagious laugh and their step dads trademark fedora are what they’re remembering when they look at these photos. They’re still finding it hard to believe how quickly they lost both their parents. It’s been like living a nightmare, an actual honest to God nightmare that you cannot get out of right. It’s like a true horror movie. It just doesn’t feel real. Their mum got sick first, but after being told by a doctor it looked like flu, she thought the pain in her arms and legs, fever and rash would improve. Mom just said, oh, I got the flu, so I’m going home to go to bed. Like, I don’t think she thought of how serious her condition was getting. They say the deterioration was rapid. In just a couple of days, their mum’s rash was spreading. They noticed her skin was looking Gray and when she was struggling to breathe, they knew she needed urgent care. Jenny Killam was brought here to Yarmouth Hospital in an ambulance that her daughters say she was so ill by then it was too late. For lack of better words, she looked like she was dying. She was like I’d never seen anybody look like that before. Their mom was diagnosed with invasive Group A strep. Then their step dad fell. I’ll as well. They died within a couple of hours of each other. The sisters think they might still be alive if their mom’s condition was detected earlier and there was faster action taken to treat their stepdad. Nobody from the family in Lower Woods Harbour had heard about the infection and now they’re asking why public notices warning people did not go out earlier this year. I think after the first death that happened in January it should have been a widespread public notice. Like it’s way more faster active than COVID. Nova Scotia Health has confirmed 10 deaths in the first two months of this year versus 6 for the whole of last year. More cases are showing up to here and across the country and steps were taken to make sure healthcare providers were aware in January, So we communicated them to make sure that they are aware that. To keep this particular condition on their differential diagnosis, so when they’re seeing someone just to keep it in mind that it’s on their radar screen, Nova Scotia Health would not answer questions about individual cases due to patient confidentiality, but says decisions to issue public notifications are made on a case by case basis and a ban on the nature of the disease, how it’s transmitted and the level of risk to the public. In this case, close contacts were identified and provided with antibiotics, including Meta and Sammy Ross. Last month, the health authority shared a social media post explaining it was seeing an increase in infections and describing the difference between strep throat and invasive Group A strep. The sisters are sharing their stories so people know what to look for and when to go for help. Trust your own instincts? Yes. You think there’s something more wrong than there probably is? Yes. And don’t wait. Gareth Hampshire, CBC News, Lower Woods Harbor.