The current flu season is one of the deadliest we’ve seen for a long time, and one warning after another has come out urging each of us to take care of ourselves and to always be aware of how we’re feeling and when to seek medical care.
There were 11, 965 confirmed flu-related hospitalizations between October 2017 and January 2018, making this flu season worse than the 2009 swine flu pandemic.
This season’s strain, Influenza A (H3N2) mostly affects children and the elderly, however there have been several cases of young and otherwise healthy people losing their lives to the virus.
One of its latest victims is 15 year old Precious Angel Hernandez Cantu. Now her devastated father has a message for all parents.
15 year old Precious, from San Antonio, Texas, suddenly began showing signs of the flu, such as fever, chills, aches and exhaustion. Her parents took her straight to a doctor, who dignosed her with Type B Influenza.
There is no real cure for this strain of influenza, however the doctor prescribed the teenager Tamiflu to shorten the course of the virus, and Precious returned home to rest.
But her symptoms only became worse when she returned home.
Life-threatening
Precious began to experience pain in her neck and chest. Her anxious parents rushed her straight to the hospital. Tragicallly, hours later doctors told her devastated parents that Precious had passed away.
Her dad Steveo explains that his daughter’s condition went downhill quickly, saying she “went into organ failure and had to go on life sustaining measures.”
“Something shot up in the machine. The emergency response team came in and I never talked to my daughter again,” Steveo says.
Doctors say that it will take at least a week to fully determine the case of Precious’ death. Meanwhile, her family are fighting to come to terms with what happened.
“I was the first person to hold her. I was the last person to hold her,” Steveo says. “My little girl was tough. She was fearless. She loved to draw. She was very good at it. She was destined for a lot of good stuff.”
The devastated dad hopes that by sharing his daughter’s story, other families can be aware of the seriousness of the flu and seek help as soon as possible.
“Flu is something to take very seriously,” he tells ABC News. “I never thought it would happen to me, to my little girl. If their kids have fevers and are getting some symptoms, just take them to the doctor. Even if you think it’s nothing.
Precious’ death is tragic and senseless, but if one family can use her story to help save their loved one, then her death wasn’t in vain.
Please help us to spread her family’s message further by sharing this story with your loved ones on Facebook.
