7-Year-Old Unvaccinated Colorado Girl Dies of Flu Symptoms After Going into a Coma

Photo: GoFundMe

A 7-year-old girl in Colorado died Sunday afterbattling flu symptomsthat left her hospitalized in a coma for seven weeks. Shedid not get vaccinated against the flu.

Selina Nguyen, from Denver,started feeling sickjust before Christmas. Her health declined over the next two days, and on Dec. 23 she went into a coma and was rushed to the hospital.

Her family learned that Nguyen had the H1N1 flu virus, and were “praying for a miracle,” a friendwrote on a GoFundMe page. But her brain was unresponsive for those seven weeks, and surgeries to relieve the pressure in her skull had no effect.

According to the GoFundMe page, Nguyen’s family wants people tounderstand the danger of going without a flu shot, and advised that parents take their kids to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

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Though the Centers for Disease Control say thatthis flu season is milderthanlast year’s extremely deadly outcome, there is still a severe risk. Midway through January,6 to 7 million people had already been diagnosed with the flu, and 16 children had died. Colorado is also one of 24 states in the U.S.with high levels of influenza-like illness.

Nguyen’s funeral service and memorial will be held on Saturday and Sunday, and the money raised from the GoFundMe page — which is now well past its goal of $5,000 — will go to her medical costs. Any remainder will be donated to charity, “because that is what Selina would have wanted.”

source: people.com