CHARLOTTE -- Kathleen Cochrane Dipiero helped to launch Spectrum News 16 years ago. She moved on from here to Cleveland in 2005, where she eventually met her husband and started a family.

She was leading the storybook life until late last month.

36 hours after showing her first signs of sickness, the 38-year-old mother of two died.

The autopsy showed the most likely cause of death, the flu leading to pneumonia and sepsis.

The flu epidemic is killing young and healthy people across the country. 

ER and urgent care centers around the state are filling up with flu patients.

The CDC is calling it an epidemic and the worst flu in more than a decade and there are no signs of it letting up.