Community rallies around Coralville family after 12-year-old’s death

CORALVILLE - In the mornings before she left for school, 12-year-old Ailysha 'Ily” Ringer often spun stories while putting on her shoes.

'Do you want to hear about my dream?” she'd ask, her father Shawn Ringer recalled.

The vivid retelling of the previous night's dream would start soon thereafter and Ily wouldn't finish until she got out of the car at her school in Coralville, he said.

On Monday, friends and family of the Northwest Junior High seventh-grader, said goodbye during funeral services at Parkview Church in Iowa City. Ily died May 10, following a monthlong battle that began with a flu diagnosis and got increasingly worse.

In the days leading up to and following her death, the community has rallied to support the Ringer family with prayer and financial contributions.

'We had a large team of pastors who would come to the hospital and pray at her bedside,” said Shawn Ringer, a minister. 'All over the country, people were praying and seeking God on her behalf.”

Still, doctors would fix one thing and another would go wrong.

'There's only so much medicine can provide for us, and after that - that's where the Lord comes in,” Ringer said. 'And ultimately, that's what happened.”

An otherwise healthy child, Ily was diagnosed with the H1N1 strain of the flu virus on April 8, her father said. Shortly thereafter, came an added diagnoses of pneumonia. The day after her diagnosis, Ily spent the day at home, moving back and forth between sleeping in her bed and napping in her parents' room. Late in the day, her parents noticed she was very pale and her lips were turning blue. Her mother Genella Ringer took her to the emergency room. Ily's oxygen levels were low and falling, and by 3 a.m. the next day she was in a medically-induced coma.

While she was hospitalized, her parents and siblings - Awnnica, 6, and Atreyu, 5 - sometimes sat at her bedside guessing at the stories they'd hear when she woke up 'after a month of dreaming,” Shawn Ringer recalled.

At one point, doctors eased her off her sedation to check her reflexes and she did wake up, blinking to communicate.

'We told her - we can't wait to hear her voice,” Shawn Ringer said. 'We can't wait to hear what she was dreaming about.”

But Ily's medical condition continued to worsen. Over the next few weeks she struggled with high blood pressure and issues with her liver and kidneys. Blood clotting cut off circulation in her right leg, and it was amputated.

The family still doesn't have answers to why Ily's health deteriorated so quickly. Shawn Ringer said Ily had been a kid who 'never got sick.”

Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, Iowa Department of Public Health medical director and state epidemiologist, said that since the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, that strain of the flu continues to hit-school-aged children harder than other age groups. She stressed the importance of flu shots, especially for very young children.

Most deaths related to flu and complications from pneumonia occur in the elderly, infants or those with other medical problems, such as heart issues, lung issues or diabetes, Quinlisk said. Even still, young and totally healthy individuals have also died from it, she added.

About 300,000 Iowans contract a strain of the flu each year, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while the flu and complications from pneumonia cause, on average, 1,000 deaths in the state each year.

Ily's family members say they hope she is remembered as a vibrant girl with a nurturing and loving spirit.

'Needless to say, we loved the little lady,” said Donica Perkins, Ily's grandmother. 'We thought the world of her, just like everybody else.”

Ily was a kid who didn't want to miss anything, Perkins said, noting she participated in drama club, orchestra, band, volleyball, basketball and track.

'It was an everyday event to see Ily coming out of school with two instruments and two backpacks,” Shawn Ringer said. 'She was a busy kid. I used to tell her, ‘I'm just going to get you a shopping cart to carry things around.'”

The Ringers' school and church communities have rallied around the family.

An online fundraising account at gofundme.com/ilyringer is aiming to generate $50,000 in donations to help pay for medical expenses. As of Monday afternoon, 150 people had contributed more than $10,000. Another $1,200 has been raised through a Northwest Junior High fundraiser that saw the sale of 158 'Ily Strong” T-shirts over the weekend, according to an email from school's athletic/office secretary Christina King.

'The support is overwhelming,” Shawn Ringer said. 'Not just the monetary support, but just the love we've been shown over this past month has been tremendous.

'And that's one of the reasons we live in this community - because of how loving the people are here.”

Gazette Reporter Chelsea Keenan contributed to this story.