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The deadly flu season in Australia has made another victim – this time a beloved 13-year-old Melbourne schoolgirl.
Crystal-Lee Wightley began to feel bad Tuesday afternoon.
Friday morning, she was dead, confirmed her broken-hearted family.
The 13-year-old girl, who was scheduled to attend a doctor's appointment later that day, was found unconscious in her Baxter, Victoria room.
Paramedics were called home but were unable to save her.
"She was in perfect health"
Crystal-Lee's aunt, Yvette Southgate, told the Herald Sun that her entire family was heartbroken and still struggling to understand how quickly her health had deteriorated.
"Nobody among us thought that we had to go to the hospital, she was perfectly healthy and laughed and laughed with her cousins a few days ago," she said. "We are denying – it seems so impossible, it should not be allowed."
In a tribute to Facebook, Channi Gartland, a family member, said that Crystal-Lee was "kind, smart, beautiful and that she had come back to make a room laugh".
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"She only got sick on Tuesday," Gartland added.
"On Monday, I was sitting with her in the afternoons, talking about the names of her baby cousin that she was about to meet.
"All the names went through Crystal, she was honest, she took care of her heart and her heart was in the right place to look after the little people of her life."
Crystal-Lee's grandmother, Karyn Wightley, shared a moving tribute on Facebook.
"My darling, I have a broken heart and life will never be the same again. Fly away with the angels my darling daughter. Nanny will always be missed.
"Missed and loved always I can not stop crying beautiful girl," wrote Wightley.
The Crystal-Lee brothers, aged 11 and 4, allegedly fought the flu the week before but had begun to recover.
His death marks another tragedy in what has been a horrific influenza season.
Season of the killer flu
So far, 231 people have died across the country during the worst flu season ever recorded.
More than 120,000 Australians have contracted the flu this year.
In New South Wales, 66 people died, all over the age of 60.
This week, a nursing home on the south coast of Unanderra near Wollongong ended three weeks of closure following an epidemic that began the long weekend in June.
About 20 residents and 20 staff members had flu symptoms, five residents were hospitalized and three died.
NSW's director of communicable diseases, Vicky Sheppeard, said people should avoid visiting retirement homes, even if they were sick.
She also called on NSW residents to get the flu shot.
"It's not too late to get vaccinated.
"It's not too late to get vaccinated, we want to remind people that the flu vaccine is still the best protection, so take advantage of this free vaccine," she said.
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