4-year-old Ohio girl with flu hospitalized with brain damage

NEW YORK -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the worst of flu season is over.

But that's not the case for one family in Ohio, after the virus left one little girl in a coma.

The illness has changed her life forever.

"Every day, I wake up to the nightmare," Brad Boler said.

The Ohio father is speaking out, after his 4-year-old daughter, Locklynn, got sick with the flu.

Her symptoms took a turn for the worse when she began having trouble breathing, and collapsed.

Her dad rushed her to the hospital.

"They had to do three rounds of CPR on her before they finally got a pulse," Boler said.

SEE MORE: Flu season in the US is the most intense it's been in at least 15 years: CDC

The little girl was then taken to another hospital, where her family received devastating news.

"They came in, and told us that she had massive amounts of brain injuries. She'll never be able to walk again. I imagine she can make noises, but not talk," Boler said.

"There's kind of a number of different ways that the brain can be affected or impacted by the flu. So, one is directly, the virus causing inflammation within the brain tissue. Then, you can also have brain damage as a result of a lack of oxygen," said Dr. Leah Croll, a neurologist at Maimonides Health.

According to the CDC, 13% of children who died from the flu this season had brain damage.

"The CDC is paying attention to concerns that perhaps this year's flu is so intense that kids may be at increased risk for this relative to past flu seasons. But, the CDC was also very careful to say this is not a condition that we are regularly kind of collecting data about," Croll said.

More people were hospitalized with the flu this season than in the past 15 years.

Doctors and parents are warning people to take the flu seriously.

"I used to be that kind of person that was like, 'oh, it's the flu. You'll be OK, but like, I'm telling you this thing could take your guys' baby away from you in a blink," Boler said.

The good news is Locklynn is now awake, and no longer on a ventilator.