Seasonal Fu: Ohio - Flu May Have Played Role in Boy's Death

January 14, 2013
A Boardman mother said she and her husband are "shocked and confused" after finding their 4-year-old son unresponsive in bed over the weekend from what could be flu-related complications.

Shannon Ewert of Beechwood Drive said her son, Hunter, complained of a sore throat and had a slight fever Friday night. She is a nurse and she said she listened to his lungs and they seemed clear.

"The doctors at the hospital said his lungs filling up would have happened very quickly and the only way they would have been able to catch it was by doing an x-ray every hour," Ewert said in a telephone interview Monday evening.

She said because Hunter was mostly asymptomatic, she gave him some cough medicine and put him to bed.

"At some point during the night, he made his way from his bedroom to ours. It appears he crawled into our bed and collapsed face down," Ewert said.

She said Hunter was still warm when she woke up and found him and she immediately began performing CPR while her husband called 911. She said ambulance personnel continued working to revive him and he had a ventilator put on him at the hospital, but doctors were unable to revive him.

Continued:  http://www.wytv.com/content/news/local/story/Flu-May-Have-Played-Role-in-Boys-Death/juAbxjX0_UWXXydTH55W8w.cspx