Funeral For Monroe Flu Victim

MONROE (WWJ) - Funeral services were held Thursday in Monroe for a 41-year-old man who died of the flu.

"The entire funeral home was full and they had to open up the next room, that's what kind of person he was," says Diane Bilicic, Christopher Wright's mother, who describes herself as still in shock.

Bilicic says Wright fell ill quickly.

"He went to the hospital on New Year's Eve, December 31st, and he was feeling bad the day before that and that's all. And the day before that he was over here and he was just fine," says Bilicic.

She says Wright was very tired and coughing a lot. By January 12th, Christopher Wright was dead.

"He was diagnosed with pneumonia in the first hospital here in Monroe and they gave him the test for the flu, and somehow it came back negative. So, they started treating him for pneumonia, and he got out of that hospital and went to another hospital and then they said that he had the flu," she says.

Bilicic says Wright -- a postal carrier who walked a lot on the job -- was very healthy, although he was a smoker. She says at age 41 he didn't think he needed a flu shot.

"Everyone's just very shocked. He had three children of his own and he had two stepchildren. They're coping pretty bad. They're very broken up," says Bilicic.

Wright was the second death in Monroe County, and the 40th confirmed case of the flu.