Tustin Mother Fighting For Her Life After Contracting Flu
TUSTIN (CBSLA.com) – In early February, 39-year-old Dana Nussbaum told her sister she was getting sick.
So the Tustin wife and mother of two went to the ER and was diagnosed with the flu. She went home with medicine. However, a few days later her condition got worse.
"She was on the highest level of life support within that short amount of time," Nussbaum's sister, Erin Williams, told KCAL9 Thursday.
Erin Williams says her sister fainted and was rushed to Keck Hospital of USC. Doctors determined her flu had progressed to pneumonia.
"It's unreal, I mean she's fighting for her life," Williams said.
Nussbaum is heavily sedated and is being kept alive by machines. Williams says she has no underlying health conditions. Doctors say the illness could have been avoided if Nussbaum had gotten her flu shot. Pulmonologist Dr. Ricardo Juarez with Keck Hospital says even healthy people can die from the common flu.
"You can't say that you're just young and healthy, that it's not going to hit you," Juarez said. "Get that flu vaccination, it can really prevent these kinds of complications."
Erin says their entire family has now received their flu shots.
"She'll come back, she has to," Williams said.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to raise money for Nussbaum's family. To donate, click here.