The flu that has ravaged the nation this winter made a frightening appearance in an eastern Iowa home this weekend. Nichole LaMarsh's 4-year-old daughter, Kinzi, seemed perfectly fine Friday afternoon. After waking up from a nap and eating early Friday evening, she began to complain her tummy hurt, and then became confused and quit responding to her parents. Shortly after, she began having seizures and was rushed to Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo. Kinzi was then life-flighted to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital in Iowa City.

Following her mom's urging, a flu test was administered early Saturday. Kinzi's issues were, indeed, being caused by a very scary bout of influenza. The flu had struck, even though Kinzi had received a flu shot. Thankfully, Kinzi began to recover relatively quickly. Undoubtedly, her family thought it was anything but quick.

Nichole tells me Kinzi was taken off the ventilator and sedation around 10 Saturday morning and she woke up around 1:30 Saturday afternoon.

During the day Sunday, all of Kinzi' lab tests came back good and by early evening, she was taken out of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and had been moved to a regular pediatric floor at the hospital in Iowa City. She was still very tired and had a low-grade fever.

This morning, Kinzi is fever free but still tires after only about 10 minutes. There's still plenty of rest in store as she continues to recover. The next step is to get the IV removed and maybe, just maybe, she'll get to go home later today.

It's been a very rough ride for Kinzi and her parents and her mom wants everyone to know if something doesn't seem right, don't wait. Act immediately. Thank you, Nichole, for letting us share your story. Everyone needs to know just how serious this flu can be, and is.

[UPDATE 2/12 3 p.m.] I'm thrilled to be able to report Kinzi got to go home today!

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