One morning in the spring of 2019, I woke up not feeling well with a fever and upset stomach. My family and I assumed that I just had “the flu”. After a quick trip to a walk-in clinic to confirm the flu, I was on the way to a second clinic for an extra test to determine if I had pneumonia. While waiting for the test, I got really sick and vomited blood. The next thing I knew I was in an ambulance on the way to Seattle Children’s Hospital Emergency Room. I did not realize how intense the flu was until I was in that ambulance. After reconfirming both the flu and pneumonia my condition deteriorated and I was unable to breathe on my own. As a result, I was rushed to the ICU and later that night I was put in a medically induced coma, complete with breathing and feeding tubes for 4 days. After getting a little bit better, I then spent another 3 days in the ICU continuing my fight against the flu and pneumonia. With the amazing care of the Seattle ICU team, I Beat the flu!!  Many people don't realise exactly what the flu is and while the flu shot does not protect people 100% from getting the flu, it is really important to get it.  The vaccination not only helps reduce your chance of getting the flu, but it also prevents others from getting it too. It is so important to me that I know to get one despite being allergic to it.  My main point of the fundraiser is to raise awareness of how serious the flu is and to try to reduce the too many yearly deaths that result from the flu or flu-related incidents. In the 2017-18 flu season alone, 173 children died from the flu. Approximately 80% of these deaths occurred in children who had not had the vaccination. While the shot may not have prevented 100% of those deaths it certainly could have reduced many of them. As I said, in the past I did not get the flu shot due to my allergy; however, while unconscious in the hospital, my doctors told my parents, “If Jordan lives, he needs to find a way to get a flu shot!”. It is EXTREMELY important to me that EVERYONE gets the flu shot. My goal is to raise $10,000. 100% of my proceeds will go to Seattle children's research fund.  I appreciate your generous donation!