The family of a 12-year-old girl from California was told by doctors she had the flu—but when they found out otherwise just days later, it was already too late.
A day after Alyssa Alcaraz was sent home early from Green Acres Middle School due to an illness, her family took her to local Kaweah Delta Urgent Care in Visalia, California, where doctors diagnosed the seventh-grader with influenza. Alyssa was given ibuprofen, cough syrup (though she didn’t have a cough) and nausea medication to ease her vomiting, and was told to return home to rest.
Her mother, Keila Lino, says at that point, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
“She was very healthy, and just out of nowhere she got sick,” Lino tells PEOPLE. “She’s been sick with the cold and flu before, so it was just one of those things that didn’t seem like anything new to us.”
Alyssa Alcaraz and her father, Jeremy Alcaraz
Courtesy Jeremy Alcaraz
But even with a few days of rest at home, Alyssa’s health deteriorated rapidly, and she was having difficulty breathing and had a poor appetite.
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