AI-Summary – News For Tomorrow
Eleven-year-old Jace Watkins from Hueytown is in critical condition at Children’s of Alabama, battling complications from the flu. After a doctor’s visit Friday, he suffered a seizure on Saturday. Family and friends held a prayer vigil on Christmas Eve, hoping for his recovery. Doctors fear potential brain damage and his family faces a dire prognosis. Jace is currently on a ventilator in the ICU. State health officials are reporting a doubling of flu cases during the holiday season, with the Alabama Department of Public Health noting a significant increase in flu-related emergency room visits.
News summary provided by Gemini AI.
A Hueytown boy diagnosed with the flu is battling for his life on Christmas Eve in critical condition at Children’s of Alabama.
Jace Watkins, 11, was sick on Thursday, visited a doctor Friday, then had a seizure on Saturday, his family said.
A crowd including family and friends gathered in Hueytown City Park on Tuesday night to pray for Jace.
“God hears our prayers,” said Amanda Aloia, a friend of the family who organized the prayer vigil.
“Tonight, we’re here to pray for his healing, that he receives a huge miracle, that he wakes up and he is refreshed and new and God heals every broken part of him, he wakes up with no negative side effects from this, and that his family receives some peace and comfort during this hard time.”
Jace’s life hangs in the balance as he’s on a ventilator in the Intensive Care Unit at Children’s.
“They didn’t know if he’s going to make it,” the boy’s aunt, Sabrina Parsons, told Fox 6. “The doctors did say if he did not have any brain activity in the next couple days, that he would be brain dead.”
New cases of the flu have been doubling during the holidays, state officials say.
The Alabama Department of Public Health reports roughly 2.7% of emergency room visits in the week ending Dec. 3 were for flu-like illness. That’s more than twice the rate from the previous week.
“ADPH is monitoring influenza activity statewide through our routine surveillance systems, and we are seeing increased flu activity consistent with the seasonal trend,” Ryan Easterling, director of health media and communications at ADPH said in an email to AL.com this week.
