A Severe Complication From the Flu Highlights Importance of Vaccination

Like many parents, Angela has a full schedule between work, keeping up with both her children’s schoolwork, and other family responsibilities. But she always tried to make sure her 12-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter received all their childhood and seasonal vaccines. This all happened according to schedule, except for one year when she was late in getting the flu vaccine. This was the year when her daughter had a severe complication from the flu.

“If you look at our daughter’s records, you’ll see that she got her flu vaccine all the prior years,” she says. “That’s why sharing her story with others is so important to us.”

Her daughter got the flu in January 2024. What started out as a fever ended up landing her at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford fighting for her life due to a rare neurological complication. That flu season snuck up on Angela and her family—she was late to take her daughter to get the vaccine.

“It’s something I’ll always carry with me,” Angela says.

Angela’s daughter had no preexisting conditions. She was healthy. With most cases of the flu, children get a fever. But the 6-year-old’s fever continued for several days until she had a seizure.

“She wasn’t coming out of the seizure. We called 911, went to the emergency room, and she still had not regained consciousness. That’s when they transferred her to Packard Children’s,” Angela remembers.

At that point, doctors noted her brain had started to swell. She was diagnosed with acute necrotizing encephalopathy (ANE), a rare severe neurological brain condition that can occur after a viral infection like the flu. ANE carries a high risk of mortality, with some patients experiencing lasting effects like developmental delays, seizure disorders, and cognitive challenges.

“She wasn’t talking and barely moving,” Angela says. “During those early days of hospitalization, we were having discussions about what survival would look like, as we weren’t sure of the extent of the brain injury.”

Her care team started her on a regimen of different treatments. Thankfully, she responded. After three weeks in the hospital, her daughter spoke. Her first words were “I love you.”

Angela’s daughter was later transferred from the hospital to inpatient rehabilitation, where she stayed for another three weeks. With additional in-home therapies, Angela’s daughter was able to return to school part-time in May and then full-time the last two weeks of the kindergarten school year.

Now over a year after Angela’s daughter was hospitalized, she says, “My daughter is doing OK now. She is in first grade and has catching up to do in reading and writing, but she has progressed a lot. She continues to show bravery and determination.”

Children who have severe complications from the flu don’t always recover like Angela’s daughter. This past flu season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded the highest number of pediatric deaths in 12 years—90% of these occurred in children who weren’t vaccinated.

These numbers are why Angela is urging parents not only to vaccinate their children. “These are lifesaving,” she says. “And every fall, we’re getting my daughter vaccinated as soon as the flu shot is available.”

Learn more about flu shots available at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health >