By Natalie Akoorie of RNZ
The father of a Lower Hutt teenager who died in hospital with flu symptoms says she had only been unwell for a few days.
Shayne Iti said his 15-year-old daughter Katie Margaret Iti died on Saturday in Hutt Hospital from complications of influenza B.
“She fell ill probably Tuesday last week and just was getting slightly worse over the few days – we were just monitoring her at home,” he said.
“And then I woke up early Saturday morning to hear her moaning and groaning and I was like ‘I can’t see my baby like this anymore, let’s go to the hospital’.”
Iti said Katie was seen by a cardiologist and a surgeon, and tests found fluid around her heart.
He thought she appeared to improve over the day and another scan confirmed the fluid had not increased.
But 13 hours after her arrival, Katie suddenly deteriorated and her heart stopped, Iti said.
“She was gone. I was with her right up until the end.”
Iti said Katie’s passion was drag racing and she had completed her first season of racing her own car.
She became interested in the motorsport after she and Iti began helping his boss build a drag racing car.
After that Katie was hooked, going to “the drags” as often as she could, an enthusiasm also supported by mum Jamie Halse.
“She started getting quite friendly with all the junior drag racers because it’s quite big – the scene,” Iti said.
“She always wanted her own car and started jumping into people’s cars and sitting in them and dreaming about having one, one day.”
When it became known that Katie wanted to “go down the strip”, 2022 New Zealand Super Street Champion Cindy Mendoza took her for the ride.
“It spiralled on from there because she wanted to do it herself,” Iti said.
“I used to say to her ‘No, you can’t have one, we can’t really afford it’ but then she’d go round the pits talking to all the other adults telling them to ‘Go tell my Dad to get me a drag car’ and, of course, everyone was always in my ear about getting her a car so we made it happen.”
Iti taught Katie to drive the manual racing car when she was 14, starting off on grass and then in a carpark.
Once she mastered it, the then-Year 10 Naenae College student competed in her first race in October, racing the entire season.
Though Katie had no siblings, Iti described her as “a sister to everyone” and said the drag racing community had been hard hit by her death.
“They’re all struggling. Everyone’s trying to lean against each other just ‘cos they’re all struggling,” he said.
“Everyone’s in complete disbelief. I’m still in disbelief. I’m still expecting her to jump out and give me a fright.
“We can’t even stay in our own house at the moment because it just feels so empty.”
Iti said the drag racing community would take cars to Katie’s funeral in Wainuiomata on Thursday and there would be a tribute to the teen’s love of the sport.
Online tributes had been flowing with descriptions of Katie as a “beautiful soul” who was always happy, smiling, respectful, fun and entertaining.
A girl with a passion for drag racing and life, one person wrote.
“In life and in our sport you meet lots of different people , some leave a lasting memory when they are gone and Katie Iti was one of those,” another person wrote on the Wild Bunch New Zealand Facebook page.
“Her raw passion and enthusiasm was genuine and unwavering and her love of our sport and those in it knew no bounds.
“Personally thank you Katie for all the messages and gifts and for just being yourself in amongst a sea of testosterone and competitiveness you proved the sport is so much more than that...”
Iti said some online reports that Katie had died in a drag racing event were incorrect.
“The season’s over. It has been for quite some time.”
He said Katie had the best safety equipment possible and they had never had any incidents while racing.
Iti said Katie’s driving partner, Azaliya, would continue her legacy, and keep racing the No 109 car.
Health New Zealand said without a privacy waiver it could not confirm if Katie’s death was referred to the coroner or if Hutt Hospital was conducting a review.
Iti said Katie’s initial symptoms appeared to be routine – an achy body, runny nose, and cough – and his message to other families was to get vaccinated.
– RNZ