When 3-year-old Cayden Smith developed a mild fever and congestion on a Thursday evening in December 2014, her family initially thought it was a cold. The next day, they went to an urgent care center.
“We let them know that she was supposed to get a flu shot a few weeks ago, but she had an ear infection,” Jessica Richman, the mother of Cayden, 41, of Newport News, Virginia, told CIDRAP News. “She had a bit of a fever at the time, so they said we needed to postpone the flu shot. »
Urgent care staff did not test Cayden for the flu; instead, they treated his cold symptoms and advised the family to return if the child’s condition did not improve. “We actually took her back three times because her condition was getting progressively worse,” Richman recalls.
From lack of concern to a call to 911
Cayden was Richman’s first child, born May 18, 2011. The outgoing and bubbly girl, who never met anyone who would remain a stranger, loved the color pink and her 130-pound Bernese Mountain Dog. “It was cute to see this tiny little girl and this big, huge dog,” Richman said. “She had a great personality.”
Although Cayden had always received her vaccinations, she did not receive her flu shot in 2014 because of this ear infection. At the time, Richman didn’t know how serious the flu could be. “I didn’t realize it was very dangerous, so I didn’t urgently postpone his flu shot,” she said.
Every time the family brought Cayden back to urgent care in December, she mentioned that she hadn’t gotten her flu shot. Yet the staff never tested her for the flu. “They just didn’t seem concerned that that’s what was happening,” Richman said. “I don’t know why.”
By Friday evening, Cayden’s breathing had become labored. She was breathing deeply but still didn’t seem to be breathing much. Unlike other times when she was sick, Cayden was not playing with her toys and was acting lethargic. Finally, his father called 911.
“She wouldn’t move, wouldn’t ask for anything. She wouldn’t eat or drink,” Richman said. “First responders showed up to the house. Unfortunately, she had driven past the house.”
The family felt stunned. They didn’t know how their previously healthy daughter could simply not be there anymore. Although the autopsy provided answers about the circumstances of Cayden’s death, the family struggled to understand.
“When I found out it was influenza A that caused pneumonia, I was like, ‘What?'” Richman said. “At the time, I was under the impression that the flu was similar to a cold. I had no idea that it could take anyone’s life, not a small, healthy child. My child had no immune issues. She had no medical issues.”
As Richman grappled with the loss of her daughter, she connected with the nonprofit Families fight the flu. Being connected to other families whose loved ones were dealing with serious flu complications and flu deaths helped her cope with her grief and helped her feel less alone.
“It was shocking and eye-opening,” she said. “In my experience with other families who have been through a similar situation, (death has) been pretty quick, which is surprising. You would think it wouldn’t be, but they get sick so quickly, and little kids, their lungs are just smaller and they can’t fight it.”
Preventing life-threatening complications
The flu is a seasonal respiratory illness that causes symptoms such as chills, muscle aches, nasal congestion, cough, vomiting, nausea and diarrhea.
“We describe it as a more serious virus,” Jennifer Duchon, MD, MPH, associate professor in the division of neonatal medicine in the Jack and Lucy Department of Pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, told CIDRAP News. “It’s not necessarily like a cold, which you can usually feel like you’re getting the flu. When you get the flu, it almost always comes on suddenly.”
Gn Health
