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NEW: 4-year-old Gemma Botelho is breathing on her own, can talk to parents
Tests showed Gemma had the flu, and it had attacked her heart muscle
On Christmas Day, Gemma was taken out of an induced coma to eventually remove her from the ventilator
A 4-year-old girl who nearly died because of the flu is breathing on her own for the first time in nine days and can speak to her parents after waking up from an induced coma.
“It’s beyond belief,” said Gemma Botelho’s father, Alex. “Everyone here at the hospital – their spirits are lifted. They said they live for moments like this because the odds were 99% against her.”
And her parents have a message: Get yourself and your children vaccinated for the flu.
“I thought the flu – you have a cough and cold and you stay home for two days,” said Gemma’s mother, Lejla Szabo. “It didn’t cross my mind it could lead to something this serious.”
