Mother who lost 4-year-old daughter to flu complications urges parents make flu shots a priority

Mom who lost daughter to flu warns parents

The flu can be hard on young children, especially those four and under. As the holidays approach, a New York mother is urging parents to make getting flu shots a priority because she lost her own daughter to it.

ATLANTA - Mother who lost 4-year-old daughter to flu complications urges parents make flu shots a priority

When 4-year-old Amanda Kanowitz woke up feeling sick the morning of February 28, 2004, her mother Alissa says they were not worried, at least at first, because Amanda was healthy.

"The entire time, she never seemed that sick," Kanowitz says. "She woke up one morning coughing. It was a pretty bad cough, but that was really it. She never had a fever over 102. So, we were treating it like a regular virus."

The next day, Amanda began to vomit, and by that night,

"She wasn't looking good," Kanowitz says. "She was weak, and she just looked pale, and her lips were starting to look a little grayish. So, we called the pediatrician, and the pediatrician told us just to keep her hydrated and that there were quite a few viruses going around."

They put Amanda to bed with a cup of water, encouraging her to sip on it.

"She was up at 3:00 in the morning, my good girl, telling us that even though we told her to take sips of water at a time so she wouldn't vomit," her mother remembers.  "She told us that she drank a whole cup of water. And then 4 hours later, I went into her room and found her."

A coroner later ruled Amanda Kanowitz had died from flu-related complications.  

She had been sick just 48 hours.

"Back then, the flu vaccine was not recommended for her age, so she was not vaccinated," she says.  "And, because she wasn't vaccinated, her body didn't know how to respond when she did get the flu."

The Kanowitzes helped found Families Fighting Flu, a national non-profit organization that includes families of those who have died from influenza or suffered serious complications from it.

To read more about the organization, visit familiesfightingflu.org.

Even now, Alissa Kanowitz says it is still hard to believe how quickly Amanda, who had no underlying health conditions, succumbed to the flu.

"We were out of our minds," Kanowitz says.  "We had no idea. Nobody knew what it was until the autopsy came back and showed that it was influenza. And then when we tell people, they would say, 'What do you mean, the flu? What do you mean? She died from the flu? People don't die from the flu.' And we were saying that ourselves. And we learned, unfortunately, they do.  

Amanda Kanowitz is urging parents to make flu shots a priority, after losing her healthy 4-year-old daughter Amanda to the flu in 2004.

Leah Smith is a GlaxoSmithKline pharmacist and vaccine educator, says Amanda's family is not alone.

"Last year there were 179 pediatric deaths from the flu, and 80% of those children were unvaccinated," Smith says. "It's really important to prioritize your vaccines, because anybody can get the flu. Even healthy adults can get the flu."

The CDC recommends everyone 6 months and older be vaccinated against influenza.

And with flu activity still low but picking up, and the start of the holiday travel season just two weeks away, Smith is encouraging people to get a flu shot.

"Rather than trying to time anything, just go do it today," Smith says.  "It's flu season right now. Flu season peaks in February, and it can go into May. But flu activity is already increasing across the country."

Kanowitz is urging parents to make vaccinating their children a priority.

"I know it's nerve wracking," she says.  "You hear so many different messages out there, but please, please, please protect your families. It's not just the flu."

It's been nearly 20 years since they lost Amanda.

"If we can save one other family from having to experience the pain that we've gone through, we owe it to the world, you know," Alissa Kanowitz says. "And if this happened to us, it can happen to anyone."