Woman with flu miscarries, battles for her life

Chris Creekmore, left, hopes his wife Leslie recovers from serious flu complications

 Chris and Leslie Creekmore have shared a married life for three and a half years. Earlier this month they shared symptoms of the flu: Aches, nausea, fever.

He has fully recovered. She is on a ventilator, fighting for her life.

Leslie Creekmore, 29, was 20 weeks pregnant when she was admitted to a hospital in Fort Smith, Arkansas, on January 11 because she was experiencing shortness of breath, her husband said. Her condition worsened; that night she was transferred to the intensive care unit. She was put on a ventilator on January 13.

An emergency flight took her to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis on January 14 where she remains on a ventilator, reported CNN affiliate KSDK.

The couple's baby did not survive. Creekmore spontaneously miscarried on January 16, her husband said.

Her right lung collapsed over the weekend, Chris Creekmore said. He agreed to let doctors at the hospital talk about the case.

Dr. Rosanna Gray-Swain, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, who is not directly caring for Leslie Creekmore but is familiar with her case, said Creekmore remains unconscious.

"It's a little too early to tell what her outcome will be at this point," Gray-Swain said.

Tuesday, Creekmore underwent surgery to receive a treatment called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, her husband said. ECMO is a therapy that provides heart-lung bypass support and circulates blood through an artificial lung back to the body.

Chris Creekmore said one of the doctors told him it was a long shot, but the procedure went well, and she came out stable, he said.

"She's being cared for, and her status is still very, very tenuous," Gray-Swain said earlier Tuesday. "If she had had the flu vaccine, she probably wouldn't be here in this state."

Chris Creekmore said he and his wife had researched tips for healthy pregnancies, and they had come across a recommendation to avoid the flu vaccine in the first trimester of pregnancy. He said he asked his wife's OB-GYN in Arkansas in October about the matter, and the doctor told them he was wary of giving flu shots during the first trimester.

"I for one don't count it as a screw-up on his end or anything like that," Chris Creekmore said of the doctor who advised delaying the flu shot.

The couple did not know that this guidance runs counter to federal health recommendations.

Any pregnant woman should get a flu shot to protect against serious complications as soon as the yearly vaccine becomes available in her area, advises the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website flu.gov.

Women can receive the flu shot at any point during their pregnancies, regardless of trimester, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists supports the CDC recommendation that all women get vaccinated if they will be pregnant during the influenza season: "Vaccination early in the season and regardless of gestational age is optimal," ACOG says.