Alumna dies of swine flu after difficult pregnancy

With the threat of the swine flu waning, there have been casualties close to home.

Ashley Clark, a 24-year-old alumna of 2007, passed away during childbirth at Hershey Medical Center December 20, 2009 from swine flu complications.

Her story was told by her boyfriend Pat Carr, a Penn State alumnus.

Clark and Carr met each other in their sophomore years through Carr’s best friend.

The first qualities Carr had noticed about Clark when they first met were her smile and laughter.

“I consider myself to be a pretty funny guy, but she had a way of making me lose it. She was so hilarious,” he said.

“She just had a way of making everything better. She always found the good in things. Even when I would make sports jokes about the Eagles or Phillies, she would be right there cracking jokes with me. That is rare to find in a person; someone who shares your unique sense of humor.

Clark and I could always make each other laugh. That is probably what I will miss most about her.”

Their unique sense of humor was not the only thing they shared.

They were diehard Philadelphia sports fans, especially for the Phillies and Eagles.

“We would always make it a point to go to at least two or three Phillies’ games a year,” Carr said. He even bought Eagles tickets this year for Clark and himself to see the Eagles face off against the 49ers on the Dec. 20, the night Clark had passed away.

They were also both passionate about music. She was a Music Business major, and Carr was in the marching band all four years in high school. They loved John Legend, and their song happened to be Legend’s “So High.”

Clark also loved her mother, Kathy Clark, very much.

Her father left when she was three years old. Mrs. Clark was a teacher in Center City Philadelphia for 35 years.

Similar to her daughter, she is a very talkative and vibrant person. Mrs. Clark has been struggling with the loss of her daughter, but Carr has helped her deal with the loss. “Even though Ashley and I weren’t married, she considers me a son-in-law, and I view her as a mother-in-law,” he said.

Clark’s relationship with Carr grew after they first met, but nothing serious came about at first.

When Carr returned from his first break after his junior year, the two were seeing different people.

However, when Carr took his second break in the winter of 2008, they were single.

Eventually, they both realized they belonged to each other.

In their minds, they were official for four years instead of the one year they dated.

This past year with Clark was one of Carr’s most fulfilling parts in his life.

On December 6, 2009, Clark showed signs of being ill. That Thursday, Carr rushed her to the emergency room of Lancaster General Hospital because she felt she was going into labor.

Soon after they arrived, Clark was moved to the Women and Babies Hospital and into a labor room.

Around 11 a.m. she was rushed to delivery for an emergency cesarean section. At 11:13 a.m. on Thursday, 7lbs, 9oz Emma Rose was born; 7 hours after Clark and Carr arrived at the emergency room.

Initially, Emma was taken to the nursery until she had trouble breathing and was transferred to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit where she stayed for 11 days. Clark was in relatively good shape until she had trouble breathing and developed a fever.

On Saturday, she was rushed to the Intensive Care Unit. The doctors first diagnosed her with pneumonia and then the swine flu, which caused her lungs be in such bad shape.

On Monday, she was taken to the Hershey Medical Center. She was on a ventilator, but kept regressing.

On Sunday, the doctors attempted a treatment that would give her lungs additional strength to fight the infection, but Clark did not survive the procedure.

The ordeal could have been prevented. According to Carr, Clark did not tell anyone she was pregnant nor did she receive prenatal care.

“I would like to say that if she had received proper care, this would not have happened, but who knows. God works in mysterious ways,” he said.

Clark and Carr’s daughter recovered and now lives with Carr and his parents, who are handling the situation very well.

She is now 100 percent healthy, weighing 8lbs 14oz from her last doctor’s appointment. Carr works for a company that distributes meals on wheels.

He is nine credits away from earing his degree in Sports Broadcasting from Penn State.

When it comes to taking care of Emma, it is bittersweet Carr explained.

“Emma is a constant reminder of Ashley because she looks so much like her mother,” he said “but at the same time Emma gives me strength to go on and get my life in order. Taking care of her is my main priority right now.”