Today Neon Tommy launched the first installment of our investigative special project on H1N1. After repeated requests, LA county officials released the death certificates of all LA county Swine Flu victims to Neon Tommy reporters a few weeks ago. Since then, we’ve been calling LA county officials, talking to doctors and meeting with the victims’ families to try to put a human face on a pandemic that has devastated some of the area’s most vulnerable communities.
I was able to meet with the families of two of the victims, and you can read their full stories here and here.
An excerpt from the story of 12-year-old Alexis Maestaz is below.
Alexis Maestaz' belongings in a cabinet her which parents set up as a memorial
Christine Maestaz used to tell her daughter Alexis stories of an idyllic future life, one she knew Alexis would probably never live to see.
“Once upon a time, there was this little girl named Alexis, who had a beautiful home with a pool and a game room,” Christine Maestaz would say. It was Alexis’ favorite story, and she asked to hear it every night.
“Her cousins would call and ask her to drive them to the WIC in her Cadillac,” Maestaz continued, referring to the government food program called Woman, Infants and Children. “But she didn’t need to go, she was rich. And afterward, they would all have a big barbecue.”
Unable to move her limbs without help, 12-year-old Alexis Diamond Maestaz lived in the best world her mother could possibly provide for her at the family’s home in Rosemead. [Continued at Neon Tommy]
A photo of Alexis next to a guardian angel statue outside the Maestaz home
Alexis' 3-year-old sister Savannah