CALHOUN, Ga. — One North Georgia little girl remains in the hospital after a flu diagnosis.
Her mother says 2-year-old Sarah lost movement in her arms and legs, so she rushed her to a hospital near their home in Calhoun, Georgia.
“When I would say come here, she wouldn’t do it either. She would just throw her upper torso. That was definitely a red flag to me,” Kenia Lopez described to Channel 2’s Candace McCowan.
At the hospital, Sarah tested positive for Flu A.
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“Overnight, everything got worse. She couldn’t sit up on her own, she couldn’t walk, she couldn’t move pretty much anything, just her head a little bit,” explained Lopez.
That is when Lopez then rushed her daughter to a Chattanooga hospital where she was admitted, and put on a ventilator and feeding tube over the past several weeks.
“It’s the way your immune system responds; it can either kill it or attack your nervous system,” is how Lopez says doctors explained it to her.
“Goes to show how dangerous this can be,” said Dr. Dhaval Desai with The Atlanta Internists.
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The number of flu cases is on a steep rise, and it’s anticipated to keep rising when it comes to children.
“School is just starting back, so I think the next week or two we are going to see an uptick of flu and flu-like illnesses,” Dr. Desai said.
He says there is one thing everyone can do to help themselves.
“We do know getting the flu shot will help minimize your risk of catastrophic complications, hospitalizations, being in the ICU,” he explained.
For little Sarah, she’s made some improvements.
“She’s recuperated some of the leg movements she still cannot stand up,” said Lopez.
She’s now off a ventilator and off the feeding tube, and will have inpatient rehab in Atlanta.
“Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, their rehab facility is one of the best and closest to home, so they’re going to be transferring her straight from here to there by ambulance,” she said.
You can donate to a GoFundMe for Sarah’s recovery here.
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