Devastated: Mum of 16-year-old Upper Hutt College boy who died at home within days of flu symptoms in disbelief at death

William Jones' death after the sudden onset of the flu has devastated his family and friends.

The heartbroken mum of a 16-year-old boy who died within days of what started as a sore throat cannot believe her otherwise healthy son is gone.

Rebecca Rollason found her son William unresponsive in bed on the morning of Friday June 14 after what started as a sore throat and cough just days earlier.

“As you can imagine we just don’t understand and cannot believe he is gone,” Rebecca told the Herald.

“It feels like the worst nightmare that we cannot wake from.”

William was a much-loved and talented musician at Upper Hutt College who had proudly passed his driver’s licence within weeks of his 16th birthday.

He was usually fit and healthy but started getting a sore throat and cough on Tuesday June 11.

Rebecca called the doctor on Thursday and was told it was the flu and to give William plenty of fluids and to call again on Friday if she was still concerned.

A younger William (left) with his mum Rebecca and younger brother Patrick.

Sadly, that was too late.

Rebecca went to check on her boy that morning and found him unresponsive in bed.

“We just don’t understand how this can happen to a boy who was barely ever sick and was very healthy,” she said.

“We ask ourselves how what started as a sore throat, snotty nose and a cough on Tuesday to no longer with us three days later.

“No one understands, we don’t know what happened. We have to wait for results.”

Rebecca said her son’s completely unexpected death had devastated his whole family, his friends, fellow students at Upper Hutt College, and the wider community.

He was farewelled a week later with his funeral attended by schoolmates, former teachers and others in the Upper Hutt community.

“William was an amazing, talented and very bright kind boy who we love so very much,” she said.

“He was a talented musician and had his future all planned out.”

“It is an incredibly hard and devastating time for us.”

A friend of Rebecca’s set up a Givealittle page to help pay for funeral costs and to relieve the financial pressure to give Rebecca and William’s two brothers time to grieve.

William Jones proudly passed his driver's licence a month after his 16th birthday in 2023.

Friends, former teachers and community members had donated to the page and left heartfelt messages for William describing him as “a wonderful friend” and “sweet young man.”

Rebecca said William was an amazing son with great plans for his future.

“Life will never be the same without my gorgeous 16-year-old boy.”

The tragedy comes as health experts have been urging Kiwis to be aware of the risks of respiratory viruses over winter, including influenza, Covid-19, RSV and rhinovirus, which causes the common cold.

While Covid-19 has become New Zealand’s number one infectious-disease killer, flu remained a major burden - accounting for about 2% of deaths annually.

But flu-related deaths among younger, healthy people were highly uncommon, with the vast proportion of mortalities annually reported among our over-65 population.

In February, six residents of Whitianga Care Centre and Village died within two weeks of each other during an outbreak of influenza A.

ESR surveillance showed national rates of influenza-like illness was running at normal rates for the time of year, with A/H1N1 or “swine flu” – a strain known to hit elderly people and young children particularly hard – making up the bulk of sampled cases.

H1N1 was among the strains targeted by this year’s flu vaccine, now freely available to people over 65 and other higher-risk groups.

To donate to Rebecca’s Givealittle page click here.

Kirsty Wynn is an Auckland-based journalist with more than 20 years’ experience in New Zealand newsrooms. She has covered everything from crime and social issues to the property market and consumer affairs.