A child is fighting for her life after suffering brain damage while battling the flu.
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According to local media outlet ABC 6, 4-year-old Locklynn Boler from Chillicothe, Ohio, tested positive for the flu just one week before her life was turned upside down by the virus.
“It’s a nightmare,” Brad Boler, Locklynn’s father, explained while talking about the situation. “It’s like every day I wake up to the nightmare.”
Boler also shared that his child and her two siblings tested positive for the flu at a local urgent care. The next day, Locklynn was struggling with breathing. Boler decided to take the young girl to a nearby hospital. However, one of the doctors sent her home with medication and a nebulizer.
“We were doing everything that the doctor had said to do,” Boler explained. “Give her her breathing treatments. Give her her steroid. If she’s getting frustrated, just make sure you give her her nebulizer and let it work itself out. That’s what we were told.”
Unfortunately, a little more than 24 hours after the hospital visit, the child’s health rapidly declined.
“She jumps up out of bed and runs toward the bathroom door, and next thing I know I hear a thud,” Boler continued. “So I grab my flashlight on my phone, and I look over, and she’s laying on the ground.”
The Child Was Life-Flighted to a Columbus-Area Children’s Hospital
Locklynn was then rushed to a nearby hospital following the incident. “They had to do three rounds of CPR on her before they finally got a pulse,” Boler recalled. “Roughly, I don’t know the exact amount of time, but I think it was almost 20 minutes that she was gone.”
The child was then life-flighted to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Her father said the incident left her unable to walk.
“They came in and told us that she had massive amounts of brain injuries,” Boler said. “She’ll never be able to walk again, probably. She can make noises but not talk again. She just won’t be able to do anything without help.”
After spending more than two days in a coma, Locklynn woke up. She was taken off the ventilator.
“The fact that she’s alive makes me hopeful, but when I just sit down and think about it, I get real angry,” Boler stated. “But I think that’s just one of those emotions I’m still processing through.”
Boler explained that he hopes his daughter’s situation will encourage others to take the flu seriously.
“I used to be that kind of person that was like ‘Oh, it’s the flu, you’ll be ok,’” he added. “I’m telling you this thing can take your guys’ babies away from you in a blink.”