15 year old at Disneyland dies of mysterious illness

[JillaMagilla]

A band member from school from Long Island, NY has died shortly after becoming ill of an undetermined cause at Disneyland. The story is on the Los Angeles CBS affiliate website, listed as "Long Island Teen Dies Of Mysterious Illness During Disneyland School Trip."

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

Hey OP. I am from the same town as the young man who passed away. He wasn't actually IN Disneyland when he passed away. What happened was he was set to perform with the school marching band. Every year, the band travels to different locations and performs. I, myself, participated. I got to go to Disney World during this time, as well as Disney Land (much like they did this year). From what I've heard, he fell ill during the trip, had a high fever, and collapsed and passed away. Disney Land is being linked as the band was set to perform there.

 

[JillaMagilla]

Hey OP. I am from the same town as the young man who passed away. He wasn't actually IN Disneyland when he passed away. What happened was he was set to perform with the school marching band. Every year, the band travels to different locations and performs. I, myself, participated. I got to go to Disney World during this time, as well as Disney Land (much like they did this year). From what I've heard, he fell ill during the trip, had a high fever, and collapsed and passed away. Disney Land is being linked as the band was set to perform there.

Hi Pluto and thank you for the background. As for the linkage to Disneyland, here is what the news reports are saying:

• After the school group arrived in CA, they and Joseph Tutaj (the victim) spent a full day at Disneyland. His friends said he was fine then (one even commenting "he went on Space Mountain.")
• The next day, the school group was scheduled to go to the Santa Monica pier; his friends said that morning Joseph was complaining about feeling ill but went along to the pier with the group.
• While the group was at the pier, his condition worsened and he complained of having a high fever.
• Joseph was rushed to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical center and died 24 hours later.
• Doctors involved in treating Tutaj have told his family they believe he may have contracted a debilitating infection. An autopsy has been performed but could not identify the cause of death, so the coroner is now proceeding with a full toxicology examination which will take up to six weeks.
• The family says Joesph had no previous history of medical problems.

So the connection to Disneyland goes beyond the mere fact his band was scheduled to perform there. As the investigation into this death proceeds, there will be an assessment of what his condition was, what caused it - and if infection is the culprit when and where he was exposed to it.