There is no question the flu is hitting hard this year. Tragically it can be fatal, especially in children.
We sat down with a woman who unfortunately knows this all too well. In early 2008, her happy, healthy ten-year-old came down with the flu and never recovered. Less than twenty days later, she died.
Pictures and memories of ten-year-old Olivia McCrery still fill her Lancaster County home.
“Full of life and happy and healthy and pep and loved school and normal interests like soccer and cheerleading,” explained mother Stephanie McCrery.
Her mother remembers how quickly her fifth grader went from that healthy, bubbly girl to deathly ill. In February of 2008, she took Olivia to the doctor for a sore throat. She went back again the same week and doctors again told her it wasn't strep throat, so just to drink fluids and get rest.
But she didn't get better, so her parents rushed her to the hospital within a day. There, she was diagnosed with the flu and pneumonia was found in her lungs.
“So literally about 16 hours from the time she had seen the doctor that morning to the ER doctor, she was critically ill. By three that afternoon, flown to Hershey Med and had to be intubated when she got there and never came off intubation.”
Olivia died two weeks later. Stephanie says she was blindsided by how serious the flu could be.
“That's what I thought, did I ever anticipate something like this could happen to an otherwise perfectly healthy child who didn't have allergies or asthma or any other chronic illness, no,” McCrery explained.
She wants other parents to know how important it is to know the symptoms.
“The flu doesn't always present in children like adults, its different, with Olivia dry throat, sore throat she did not develop a fever right away,” McCrery cautioned.
Above all, she says get the flu shot. When Olivia died the CDC had not yet recommended the shot for all children. Now, they do and Olivia's family gets one every year.
“We take all of these precautions, why not a flu shot?” questioned McCrery. “It's inexpensive, relatively painless, why not do it?”
Stephanie wants to remind people of the many free clinics going on for flu shots. She also encourages people to listen to their doctors about the flu and the flu shot, and not the internet.
We sat down with a woman who unfortunately knows this all too well. In early 2008, her happy, healthy ten-year-old came down with the flu and never recovered. Less than twenty days later, she died.
Pictures and memories of ten-year-old Olivia McCrery still fill her Lancaster County home.
“Full of life and happy and healthy and pep and loved school and normal interests like soccer and cheerleading,” explained mother Stephanie McCrery.
Her mother remembers how quickly her fifth grader went from that healthy, bubbly girl to deathly ill. In February of 2008, she took Olivia to the doctor for a sore throat. She went back again the same week and doctors again told her it wasn't strep throat, so just to drink fluids and get rest.
But she didn't get better, so her parents rushed her to the hospital within a day. There, she was diagnosed with the flu and pneumonia was found in her lungs.
“So literally about 16 hours from the time she had seen the doctor that morning to the ER doctor, she was critically ill. By three that afternoon, flown to Hershey Med and had to be intubated when she got there and never came off intubation.”
Olivia died two weeks later. Stephanie says she was blindsided by how serious the flu could be.
“That's what I thought, did I ever anticipate something like this could happen to an otherwise perfectly healthy child who didn't have allergies or asthma or any other chronic illness, no,” McCrery explained.
She wants other parents to know how important it is to know the symptoms.
“The flu doesn't always present in children like adults, its different, with Olivia dry throat, sore throat she did not develop a fever right away,” McCrery cautioned.
Above all, she says get the flu shot. When Olivia died the CDC had not yet recommended the shot for all children. Now, they do and Olivia's family gets one every year.
“We take all of these precautions, why not a flu shot?” questioned McCrery. “It's inexpensive, relatively painless, why not do it?”
Stephanie wants to remind people of the many free clinics going on for flu shots. She also encourages people to listen to their doctors about the flu and the flu shot, and not the internet.