Kennedy Parks started feeling sick on Feb. 12, according to her mother, Megan, and father, Jesse. They said she had a fever, low energy, and wasn't eating or drinking much.
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The following Thursday, a pediatrician tested her for the flu and found that she was positive. The parents said no other tests were run, including checking her oxygen level or chest X-rays. The doctor prescribed Tamiflu and advised them to watch her lips. If they turn blue, they must take her to the emergency room, they were told.
The couple said Kennedy's grandmother, who took her to the doctor, pushed back.
"'She's never been this sick. It seems really serious, and he was like, 'That's just how the flu is,'" Megan said of her conversation with the pediatrician.
The couple said they fully expected the doctor to send them to the hospital after that appointment but felt encouraged about their daughter's condition when they didn't have to go.
"Doctors are typically pretty good about telling you, 'Hey, you can die from this,'" Megan said. "We just didn't get that message, and if we would have, we would have taken her straight to the hospital."
The following Saturday, the couple said Kennedy started to seem better. She was eating and drinking more.
Kennedy spent that night in bed with Megan and Jesse, and when they woke up the following morning, they noticed her lips had a blue tint and decided to take her to the hospital immediately.
On the way, Megan said Kennedy stopped responding to her in conversation, and she pulled over and found the child wasn't breathing. She called 911 and started performing CPR. A man passing by also stopped to help.
Paramedics worked on Kennedy, and she was transferred to the Texas Medical Center but ended up passing away.
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"I knew she wasn't OK, and I didn't think she was going to make it," Megan said. "I didn't understand how. Like, it didn't make sense how we got to this point."
Ultimately, Kennedy was determined to have died from pneumonia caused by the flu.
The CDC reported that in the 2022-2023 flu season, at least 154 children died from the illness. Half had no prior medical conditions, but most weren't fully vaccinated for the flu.
Since then, Megan said she realized Kennedy was unvaccinated for the flu. She said she took her for her check-up with her pediatrician in July, which did not align with flu season. The couple said it slipped their minds to take her for the vaccine at the start of the flu season because they did not realize how serious the illness could be.
"With all the other stuff you have to worry about taking care of this little angel, this thing was not something on our radar that we had to worry about - this life or death, black or white," Jesse said.
Megan said she questions if the vaccine would have changed Kennedy's outcome but said it is hard to run through the "what ifs."
The parents now hope to use their story to encourage parents to be advocates for their children.
"We should have listened to our own instincts," Jesse said. "You know your kid and how they behave and what's normal for them. If it truly is abnormal, and even if the doctor says something, you're free to get another second opinion. I think it's worth it, because you don't want to have thought that and didn't do anything about it."
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Dr. Victoria Regan, a pediatrician at Children's Memorial Hermann Pediatrics, who is not associated with Kennedy's case, said if a child has a fever of 101 degrees that will not go down with medicine, has low energy, is not eating or drinking well, or is having difficulty breathing, it is time to take them to the emergency room.
"Anywhere from 5,000 to 25,000 kids per year end up having to be admitted to the hospital because of the flu, so it's not that uncommon," Regan said.
She added pneumonia is a progression of the flu and generally develops in 48 to 72 hours but can take as long as five days. She said parents should call the children's doctors if the child is not improving in three to four days.
Regan said the flu vaccine is typically 40 to 50 percent effective at preventing the flu. Still, those who have it usually do not have to go to the emergency room, become hospitalized, or die.
Megan is scheduled to have the couple's son on Wednesday. They said they would advocate on his behalf and get second opinions when needed.
"Staying on top of it, asking the questions or follow-ups," Jesse explained. "It's easy to get complacent, especially if you know it's the 10th time she's gotten the cold. You start to feel like it's not that big of a deal, and we can get through this like we did everything else."
Now, the couple wears bands on their arms that say "Kennedy Parks" to remind them of the girl they considered the center of their universe.
"These were her name bands around her water cups to go to school for her lunch every day," Jesse said. "It's something that was a silly thing, but she touched it every day."
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