A 12-year-old boy from Michigan who vomited during dinner one night, went to an urgent care facility the next night and had a flu test come back negative tragically died the very next morning.
Michael Messenger’s family can’t believe how quickly their world was turned upside-down, losing a son and a brother who had been so full of life in just a matter of days.
The timeline of Messenger’s symptoms, evaluation and death has his mother Jessica Decent-Doll urging other parents not to wait if they see signs of flu.
"Don't wait, it's all I can say. This flu or whatever is going around this year is unbelievably dangerous," she told the Times Herald.
Messenger vomited during dinner Jan. 9, was taken to an urgent care the next evening where he was cleared for flu and administered anti-nausea medication and was found unresponsive at home in bed the morning of Jan. 11.
An hour and a half later, he was declared dead at a hospital.
Decent-Doll said her son’s vital signs were deemed normal at the urgent care center and that the family was advised to give him fluids.
By 9:15 a.m. Thursday, it was clear Messenger’s life was in grave danger.
“I ran upstairs, and I sat with him, and I tried to get him to respond to me, but there was no response, nothing,” Decent-Doll said. “It’s indescribable, it really is.”
The grieving mother said that her son had just gotten a flu shot in December and that he "never stopped, ever. He loved science. He loved his family."
Kristen Ervinck started a GoFundMe to help the grieving family:
"Mikey was so full of life and so energetic he lit up the room with his smile," it read.
The GoFundMe raised more than $12,000 as of Saturday.
At least 30 children have lost their lives to the disease this flu season.
Michael Messenger's funeral was Thursday. His family is still waiting for the results of his autopsy.
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