Flu season is upon us, and now that Halloween has passed experts are hoping that children have already received their flu shot but if they haven't, there's still time. There are many parents who are still on the fence about whether or not they should get their child the flu shot, which is why Jill Promoli has found herself speaking out about the shot and encouraging all parents to get it for their children. Promoli lost her son Jude when he was just two years old and she's hoping that by sharing her story, she'll prevent another family from experiencing the same heartbreak.

Jude died in May of 2016 after he and his twin brother both came down with the virus. Their older sister Isla had the virus first but she wasn't sick for long, so Promoli assumed her twin boys, who both seemed to have a mild case of the illness, would be fine after a day of rest and lots of fluids. “We had already dealt with this last week, we knew what this was,” Promoli told TODAY. “Jude and Thomas were playing and laughing and it was a normal day.” Promoli put her twin sons down for a nap and when she went to wake them she discovered that Jude wasn't breathing.  He was pronounced dead at the hospital. “We had no idea what was happening,” she told TODAY. “The only symptom he had was a low-grade fever.”

It took four months for the autopsy results to come back letting Pomoli and her husband know Jude's cause of death. “When the coroner called and said that Jude had died of influenza B, I had him repeat himself because I didn’t understand what he was telling me,” she explained. "We would have thought, if it was the flu, we would have seen much more advanced symptoms, greater respiratory distress," she said. "We didn’t see anything like that. He was basically fine and then he suddenly wasn’t.”

Jude's death prompted Primoli to become a flu shot advocate, and in 2016 she began "For Jude, For Everyone," a site to help educate others on the importance of getting the flu shot as well as keeping healthy during flu season. Although Jude received his flu shot before his death Primoli feels that low herd immunity contributed to the virus being brought into the house in the first place. She hopes that she can encourage others to not only get their flu shot but to stay home if they are feeling unwell, and to keep their children home as well to do their part in preventing the spread of this virus that can be deadly.

“Maybe if flu prevention efforts would have been better in the community it would have stopped the flu from reaching our house and it would have protected Jude,” she told TODAY. “Everyone who gets the flu gets it from someone else … if there had been one person in that chain who had taken an extra step, maybe we would have Jude here now.”

“The flu is preventable," she said. "There is no one guaranteed method of preventing the flu, but if we all take the steps, we can do our part to protect ourselves and each other." Promoli hopes that by speaking out and advocating for others to get their flu shots she may be able to help prevent another family from experiencing the same heartbreak hers did. “It is the worst moment and the worst day of our lives. It is something that is never going to get better,” she said. “Maybe good can come of Jude’s death and prevent someone else from losing their loved one."

Have you gotten your flu shot yet?

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