In 2011, when my son Jake was turning 12, our lives changed. On Jan. 31, his birthday, he was hospitalized with the flu. He had been vaccinated for the flu that year. Thank God. I believe the vaccine gave him the help he needed to survive.
Jake had always been a pretty healthy kid, with the usual cold here and there. When he first became ill, the doctors thought it was the croup. A few days later, when he was struggling to breathe, his pediatrician called an ambulance to take him to Yale New Haven Hospital. His oxygen saturation levels were dangerously low.
That lead to a nine-day hospital stay, four of which he spent intubated on a ventilator. Thankfully, he survived and avoided the flu until December of 2019. Once again, we believe the vaccine saved his life.
The situation this time was even more complicated, due to the damage the flu had done to Jake’s lungs the first time around. He now wears a mechanical vest each day, to help move and extricate the fluid that still fills his lungs. Each year, he must undergo one or two bronchoscopies — procedures where they intubate him and explore his lungs for damage.
We are among the lucky families. Since his illnesses, I’ve heard stories of perfectly healthy kids and adults who have not survived the flu. Often, people are shocked to hear that the flu can be so dangerous and can take a life.
Now we’re hearing of cases of “flurona” — of people who have contracted both the flu and the COVID-19 coronavirus at the same time. I can’t emphasize enough the need for families — people of all ages — to get the flu vaccine as well the COVID one.
Flu vaccines are recommended for everyone over 6 months, and it’s especially important for the young, the old and those with compromised immune systems.
If the last two years have taught us anything, it should be how quickly these diseases can spread. The omicron variant knows no bounds. There is so much of the virus across our state and our country, and with the flu season’s typical peak happening in the coming weeks, we must do what we can now to protect ourselves and our families with vaccination.
I think that vaccines, the ones that have been around for years and the newly developed ones aimed at getting us out of this crisis, are miracles for public health. Is the flu shot perfect? No. My son still got sick, but he survived. During one of our hospital stays, a nurse in the ICU told me that she was happy for our family that Jake was vaccinated because people who are vaccinated have a better chance of survival.
Jake is living proof of that. As a mom, I implore other parents to act now. Get your kids vaccinated. Get the booster, get the flu shot. Protect your kids, your family, your community before one more preventable illness takes more from us than we’ve already lost.
Lisa Nuland lives in Trumbull and currently serves on the Board of Education. She is also an advocate for Families Fighting Flu.
