Dance girl falls victim to swine flu

A 21-YEAR-OLD dance teacher died after she was struck down by swine flu.Despite her healthy and active lifestyle, Katie Roach fell ill earlier this month and within days was struggling to breathe and was taken into intensive care.

By The Newsroom

Published 2nd Feb 2011, 10:17 BST

Within five days of contracting the virus she had died.

Recalling her final moments, her father James Roach, 45, told reporters: "Everything was starting to shut down in her body.

The doctors started to reduce the assistance with her breathing and we were watching the monitors and her heart rate was dropping.

"I was holding her hand, her mum was holding her other hand, and we were giving her kisses and she just slipped away."

Mr Roach, 45, a gas engineer, and his wife Sharon, 46, from Hoddesdon, in Hertfordshire, are now urging anyone with symptoms of the virus to seek medical attention as quickly as possible.

Friends and family have been asked to wear something pink to a funeral service on Monday at Enfield Crematorium, in north London.

Hertfordshire London