Melinda Claire McKinney (18) died, but her cause of death remains a mystery

[kris]

http://mydeathspace.com/article/2006/10/24/Melinda_Claire_McKinney_(18)_died,_but_her_cause_o f_death_remains_a_mystery

This one upsets me quite a bit, I get a feeling of suicide from her, in her blogs she seems to be a real over-analyser and was probably incredibly hard on herself trying to please people, just started college, making friends dealing with all those changes, I don't know, maybe I am over analysing as much as she did.
Second last blog entry a month before her death:

'Tuesday, September 05, 2006
 

Life

Life is...oh so interesting....


Right now I am definitely dealing with my demons. I made a stupid fuck up and I can't even think straight! I don't regret Saturday night, but I feel like everything around me is changed. I feel like my friends have turned away from me because of Saturday night, like they think I'm a bad person or something. I'M NOT. I am STILL the same person I was last week...just with a new twist.

I feel so strange about Saturday. It's not like I didn't want it to happen. I really did. I'm not really pissed about it, but I don't feel totally depressed about it either.

Basically, what's upsetting me so much are my friends. I didn't expect to get acolades or anything when they came back, but I would've at least liked to get a little more sympathy than I got. No, instead I got a smack on the arm and asked, "OMG Claire! Why?" I don't know! I don't know why I did it, but I did. I feel bad that it happened the way it did, under certain circumstances, but I would much rather have fun with my friends than have them treat me like I'm different. I came to school in hopes that I would be accepted by more people, and I am...but I don't like it when people act like I'm different because of one thing. Yes, it was probably against my better judgement at the time, but nothing all that earth shattering. Yes, it could've impacted my life in a bit way, but it didn't.

For those of you who are closest to me, just bear with me for a few days while I cope. I'll be better about this once I have some answers, but please, don't treat me like shit just because of one thing.

Trust me...if you were in my situation, would you have turned the other way?'

Long time lurker, first time I have posted a thread.

[Hellbettie]

I was thinkin one of those cases ya see on the tv round this time, of meningitis.  God, wouldn't that be shitty...have your friends go to shit on ya, then end up like that.

But I guess they'd know if it was meningitis the first time she went to the hospital?  Or if they  just rehydrated her and sent her on her way.

[kris]

Maybe I couldn't think of an illness that would make you feel ill and then a bit better and then kill you but yes meningitis would fit possibly if she showed none of the obvious symptoms, maybe I have just spent too long on here that I always assume that unknown causes of death are always suicide, just a feeling I got from her.

[BerriesintheBrain]

Cause of student death determined
Missourian staff
Issue date: 10/19/06 Section: University News
The cause of death for a Northwest student who died earlier this month has been released.

The Page County, Iowa medical examiner informed Jerry Wilmes, vice president for student affairs the cause of death for Claire McKinney was determined to be "toxic shock- like syndrome".
The syndrome was caused by streptococcal bacteria, and is not contagious.


TSS is not one you hear about often.  :(

[tiffany]

She died of Toxic Shock Syndrome  :-(

http://tinyurl.com/y8rwaz

Edited because someone beat me to it :)

[Hellbettie]

Oh god that sucks :(  Tampons a god send, and they'll send you to god too.

[kris]

Ooh well done both of you, poor kid, I was going to say well at least it wasn't suicide but I still can't work out if it's sadder to die unexpectedly while not miserable and depressed or sadder to have been miserable and depressed and then kill yourself.

[MBPearls]

[quote author=kris link=topic=2488.msg87200#msg87200 date=1161778389]
Maybe I couldn't think of an illness that would make you feel ill and then a bit better and then kill you but yes meningitis would fit possibly if she showed none of the obvious symptoms, maybe I have just spent too long on here that I always assume that unknown causes of death are always suicide, just a feeling I got from her.
[/quote]

My stepdad got sick in 2004.  Seemed like the typical "bad bug" that seems to go around every year.  He missed his first day of work in 10 years because he was ill, and his coworkers commented that at work he seemed very unlike himself.

Two weeks later, he felt better.  Still not perfect, but not as bad.  His coworkers commented that he was seemingly back to normal, cracking jokes, the like.  That evening he laid on the couch to watch TV and fell asleep... and ended up having a major seizure.  We're talking minutes long, my mom called 911 and he was still in the seizure when the ambulance arrived a few minutes later.

Really long story short, he almost died several times, spent over 2 months in the hospital, and now has a memory a lot like the main character in "Memento".  The closest diagnosis the doctors could ever come up with was viral meningitis.  It ended his career and turned his life upside-down.

[Elegantly_wasted]

[quote author=kris link=topic=2488.msg87196#msg87196 date=1161777788]
http://mydeathspace.com/article/2006/10/24/Melinda_Claire_McKinney_(18)_died,_but_her_cause_o f_death_remains_a_mystery

This one upsets me quite a bit, I get a feeling of suicide from her, in her blogs she seems to be a real over-analyser and was probably incredibly hard on herself trying to please people, just started college, making friends dealing with all those changes, I don't know, maybe I am over analysing as much as she did.
Second last blog entry a month before her death:

'Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Â*

Life

Life is...oh so interesting....


Right now I am definitely dealing with my demons. I made a stupid fuck up and I can't even think straight! I don't regret Saturday night, but I feel like everything around me is changed. I feel like my friends have turned away from me because of Saturday night, like they think I'm a bad person or something. I'M NOT. I am STILL the same person I was last week...just with a new twist.

I feel so strange about Saturday. It's not like I didn't want it to happen. I really did. I'm not really pissed about it, but I don't feel totally depressed about it either.

Basically, what's upsetting me so much are my friends. I didn't expect to get acolades or anything when they came back, but I would've at least liked to get a little more sympathy than I got. No, instead I got a smack on the arm and asked, "OMG Claire! Why?" I don't know! I don't know why I did it, but I did. I feel bad that it happened the way it did, under certain circumstances, but I would much rather have fun with my friends than have them treat me like I'm different. I came to school in hopes that I would be accepted by more people, and I am...but I don't like it when people act like I'm different because of one thing. Yes, it was probably against my better judgement at the time, but nothing all that earth shattering. Yes, it could've impacted my life in a bit way, but it didn't.

For those of you who are closest to me, just bear with me for a few days while I cope. I'll be better about this once I have some answers, but please, don't treat me like shit just because of one thing.

Trust me...if you were in my situation, would you have turned the other way?'

Long time lurker, first time I have posted a thread.
[/quote]

Hmmm..........wonder what she did????

[daybreaksdisdain]

Did anyone else think she looked older than 18?

[Elegantly_wasted]

[quote author=daybreaksdisdain link=topic=2488.msg87547#msg87547 date=1161796033]
Did anyone else think she looked older than 18?
[/quote]

I did........in fact when I first saw the pic. I was thinking somewhere around 25........

[daybreaksdisdain]

[quote author=Elegantly_wasted link=topic=2488.msg87551#msg87551 date=1161796100]
I did........in fact when I first saw the pic. I was thinking somewhere around 25........
[/quote]

*whew* glad I wasn't the only one.

[NJMIKE]

yea, yea, yea......that's a shame.....wonder if she had a pretty sister?

[beautiful.disaster]

[quote author=Elegantly_wasted link=topic=2488.msg87546#msg87546 date=1161796023]
Hmmm..........wonder what she did????
[/quote]

i want to know, too!  i hate vague blogs, damnit.

TSS scares the shit out of me.  i even refused to use tampons for a while... but i quickly got over that.

[TweekStar]

what did she do saturday night?

[poetik_sinur]

streptococcal bacteria-  Now I could be wrong but what i remember from my CNA classes streptococcal bacteria is what causes Strept Throat.  I am pretty sure on this though.  But TSS is mainly from a tampon left in to long I guess you could say something was rotten somewhere.


"But what caused Claire`s untimely death remains a mystery. Kling says Claire was supposed to perform at Saturday`s football game, but she was too sick to show up." -  and could this be about THE saturday night or not.

[Starshine]

It wasn't from a tampon.Â* She had the second kind.

*quoted from medical page*
There are actually two different types of this condition. Toxic shock syndrome, which is caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, has been associated with the use of tampons. (TSS was initially linked to a particular brand of tampons, which have since been taken off the market.) Although the exact connection is still not clear, researchers suspect that certain types of high-absorbency tampons provided a moist, warm home where the bacteria could thrive.

Although TSS usually occurs in menstruating women, it can affect anyone who has any type of staph infection, including pneumonia, abscess, skin or wound infection, a blood infection called septicemia, or a bone infection called osteomyelitis.

A related infection, streptococcal toxic shock syndrome, or STSS, is caused by streptococcus bacteria. Most often STSS appears after streptococcus bacteria have invaded areas of injured skin, such as cuts and scrapes, surgical wounds, and even chickenpox blisters. It almost never follows a simple streptococcus throat infection

[kris]

[quote author=Starshine link=topic=2488.msg87592#msg87592 date=1161798710]
It wasn't from a tampon.  She had the second kind.

*quoted from medical page*
There are actually two different types of this condition. Toxic shock syndrome, which is caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, has been associated with the use of tampons. (TSS was initially linked to a particular brand of tampons, which have since been taken off the market.) Although the exact connection is still not clear, researchers suspect that certain types of high-absorbency tampons provided a moist, warm home where the bacteria could thrive.

Although TSS usually occurs in menstruating women, it can affect anyone who has any type of staph infection, including pneumonia, abscess, skin or wound infection, a blood infection called septicemia, or a bone infection called osteomyelitis.

A related infection, streptococcal toxic shock syndrome, or STSS, is caused by streptococcus bacteria. Most often STSS appears after streptococcus bacteria have invaded areas of injured skin, such as cuts and scrapes, surgical wounds, and even chickenpox blisters. It almost never follows a simple streptococcus throat infection

[/quote]


That is seriously scary, so it's really a bacterial infection of a cut or scrape?

Death by scrape?

[IFeelBadAboutThis]

You don't get TSS from leaving a tampon in too long, exactly. As it was stated above, the connection between TSS and tampons is murky at best. TSS bacteria, the kind that are associated with the tampon related illness, are present in the body before the infection become dangerous. Basically, women who get tampon related TSS already have the bacteria in their body before they use tampons. At least that's what I learned in bio of women a few years ago.

[MBPearls]

I worked with a girl once that got TSS.  She quickly pointed out it wasn't tampon caused, something about cutting her arm on a wire and getting a tetanus shot - apparently the next day she felt horrible and her doctor originally thought she was having a bad reaction to the tetanus shot itself.  She missed a couple weeks of work, and when she came back she looked awful. 

[democrat1960]

I wonder what she did on Saturday? I got the impression that she had sex for the first time or had a one night stand.

[soggyshoes]

[quote author=democrat1960 link=topic=2488.msg88508#msg88508 date=1161836978]
I wonder what she did on Saturday? I got the impression that she had sex for the first time or had a one night stand.
[/quote]

I got that impression too, but if that is all her friends are nuts or she was paranoid.......

[Sheilamadrie]

[quote author=soggyshoes link=topic=2488.msg88510#msg88510 date=1161837077]
I got that impression too, but if that is all her friends are nuts or she was paranoid.......
[/quote]

I agree.

[MBPearls]

Or she did drugs or something.

[beautiful.disaster]

[quote author=soggyshoes link=topic=2488.msg88510#msg88510 date=1161837077]
I got that impression too, but if that is all her friends are nuts or she was paranoid.......
[/quote]

i think she was paranoid...