A common illness has turned one teen’s whole world upside down.
Kaydin Baldwin from Kerrville Texas, was 13 when she contracted the flu — a disease that somewhere between 32 and 57 million people had between October and the end of May, according to the CDC.
But her condition turned dire, leading to 117 days in the hospital — and a harrowing triple amputation.
Baldwin’s flu progressed, and she developed both strep pneumonia and sepsis, a life-threatening response to infectio. Doctors made the crucial decision to amputate her right arm and both her legs in order to save her life.
While rare, several complications can arise from influenza, including severe, life-threatening bacterial infections.
Kaydin’s developed necrotizing pneumonia, a rare form of bacterial pneumonia that affects those with weakened immune systems.
This infection, typically caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae or Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, can start off with flu-like symptoms, but quickly become catastrophic.
“Multi-organ failure, 117 days in the hospital, she coded for two minutes,” Kaydin’s mother, Amanda Baldwin, told KENS5.
The teen, who recently celebrated her 14th birthday in the hospital, has been fitted for prosthetic limbs and will need to complete inpatient rehabilitation before heading home.
While more than 32 million Americans dealing with influenza last year, between 390,000 and 800,000 were hospitalized, according to CDC data. There were also between 24,000 and 81,000 reported deaths.
Though most people recover within a matter of days or weeks, some may develop moderate complications like sinus or ear infections.
Other more severe complications can include inflammation of the heart (myocarditis), brain (encephalitis) or muscle tissues, as well as multi-organ failure of the kidneys or respiratory system.
The flu can also worsen chronic health conditions, like asthma or chronic heart disease.
Warning signs of a more serious complication can include difficulty breathing, persistent pain in the chest or abdomen, dizziness, confusion, seizures, severe weakness or muscle pain and a fever or cough that improves at first, then returns or worsens.
Bacterial infections that develop from the flu are often treated with prescription antibiotics, although these don’t work on influenza as it’s a viral infection.
Public health concerns rose last winter around the increase of “super flu” diagnoses — the subclade K variant of the H3N2 influenza A virus — with hospitalizations seeing a spike in admissions around the country.
While similar to flus of previous years, doctors were particularly worried about how fast and strong symptoms came on and how contagious the illness was.
A GoFundMe was set up to help with Kaydin’s medical bills, prosthetic limbs, home modifications and other expenses, while her mother has been inspired to advocate for limb loss awareness.