By now, it’s certainly no secret that the most devastating flu season in years is upon us.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), there have been 53 influenza-related child deaths in the 2017/2018 flu season, with 17 fatalities reported last week alone.
The flu’s latest victim was a sweet 7-year-old named Savanna from Columbus, Indiana, who left the hospital with a sore throat last week and lost her life just two days later.
Her father, Matthew Jessie, never could have anticipated that the precious moments of laughter he shared with his daughter on Wednesday night would be their last.
“Thursday morning, I went [into her room] to wake her up and see how she was, and she was cold,” he told PEOPLE. “I turned her over and she was blue. I went to see if her belly was moving, to see if she was breathing, and she wasn’t breathing.”
“It was very, very scary,” says the 38-year-old father. “It was terrifying.”
According to Matthew, Savanna developed a sore throat on Monday followed by a fever the next day. When he took her to the hospital, doctors diagnosed the child with strep throat and released her that night.
When the 7-year-old’s symptoms intensified the following day, Matthew took her back to the doctor who again sent her home with a prescription of Tamiflu.
The grieving father is still processing the surreal tragedy that he has not been able to wrap his mind around. Though flu-related deaths this year have been rapidly on the rise, he never suspected that it could claim his baby girl with such a healthy track record.
“It happened so fast it just doesn’t seem like it’s real,” says Matthew. “There were no signs that indicated that this was gonna happen. She was never sick in her younger years.”
According to the Bartholomew County Coroner, Savanna tested positive for strep throat, flu, and scarlet fever. An autopsy will later be carried out to pinpoint the exact cause of her death.
