PROVO, Utah -- More than 100 students turned out for a vigil in memory of a Timpview High School student who died after contracting a flu bug and subsequent complications.
Members of the Timpview football team were joined by others at the school commons, where they placed blue ribbons all over campus because his family called Parker Allred their, “blue-eyed boy.”
Parker was a sophomore student at Timpview High School, where he played football and water polo. He died early Saturday morning after complications from the flu, pneumonia and a staph infection.
Assistant coach Bryan Hopkins said Parker seemed like a normal, healthy teenager until the tragedy.
“He seemingly was a very healthy young man, and my understanding, just by reading his sisters blog, was that he got the flu about a week ago and really quickly got into really high fever that moved into pneumonia and influenza and then got a staph infection, and all of it was too much for his body to handle,” he said.
Hopkins said Parker was a great kid to coach.
“I was telling folks today that the thing I remember the most about Parker is that I never had to get mad at him once, which is unusual,” he said. “I’ve been coaching for a long time, and usually I have some reason to be disappointed with a player, but he was a 100-percent-good young man on and off the field.”
Cassidy Baker was one of Parker’s teachers, and she spoke highly of him as well.
“Parker was one of those quietly kind students,” she said. “The kind of dream student every teacher wants that comes in and gets his work done. He's agreeable and kind and that's the thing I love about Parker the most.”
According to the Center for Disease Control, staph infections can occur as a complication of influenza, and in some case staph infections can cause pneumonia. Cases like this are uncommon but can be contagious and deadly.
The Health Department reports six deaths related to influenza and pneumonia so far this year.
