A San Diego father is fighting for his life in the intensive care unit after he ignored what he thought was the run of the mill flu.
Shawn Burrough is heavily sedated and on a ventilator after catching the flu bug hit their home during Christmas.
Shawn's wife Jennifer says he had the classic flu symptoms.
“He had a little chest congestion, headache, body ache -- the usual stuff where you’re like, 'OK, I’m getting the flu'.”
She says even though he was ill, her husband continued to work however they landed themselves in the emergency room on New Year's Day.
“He couldn’t breathe. They had to rush me out, they had to intubate him and sedate him.
They told me he was in renal failure, his white count was through the roof, he has severe pneumonia.”
She says she and her family opted out of getting the flu shot because the success rate was low, however now her two youngest kids have the flu but aren't as ill as their father.
“If you’re sick -- I mean the first cough, I don’t care if it’s not the flu -- go get seen just in case. You never know.”
A YouCaring page has been set up to help the family with expenses.