Kelsey Mullinex, the University of South Dakota freshman who nearly died from the H1N1 virus was all smiles yesterday as she was wheeled out of Avera McKennan hospital.

Hospital officials say that Kelsey still has a long road ahead of her because her oxygen level was so low and is still weak after being on her back for so long.

Two big smiles as Kelsey Mullinex and her mother laurie left the hospital 2 days earlier than expected. Just last week Kelsey's doctors said that she had a severe case of the H1N1 virus that had been so bad that she was gasping for air, was even put on a ventilator and was very close to dying.

This USD freshman's dad Wayne did everything he could to help her from home until the symptoms were to much for the both of them to handle on their own. Wayne Mullinex spoke with Action News last week to discuss his daughter's condition, "Her temperature on my home thermometer had spiked to 104.2 and then she had to come in." Wayne added, "when you bring your child in and they start giving you odds of survival that hurts."

As Kelsey began to recover she wanted us to thank everyone for their support and yesterday they stuffed all of that support in the trunk of their car. The car was loaded with balloons, flowers and cards before they went back home where the recovery process will continue.

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