BY BETH VELLIQUETTE

bvelliquettte@heraldsun.com; 918-1042

CHAPEL HILL -- On a Saturday, Aaron Shah's twin 4-year-old sons seemed happy and healthy.

But the next morning on Sunday, one of them, Ahmad, woke up sick.

"He was breathing heavy," Shah said. "I thought it was his asthma."

But as the day wore on, Ahmad didn't get any better, and late that night, Shah became worried. His son's temperature had risen to 105 degrees, and he was having a hard time breathing.

Shah put his son in the car and drove him to the emergency room at UNC Hospitals.

"A couple of hours later, they moved him to the ICU," Shah said. "From there his condition quickly worsened.

"The doctor came to me close to midnight and said, 'Mr. Shah, this is a very serious situation. He might not make it through the night.'"

Ahmad had contracted the H1N1 influenza virus, which was further complicated by the fact he had asthma.

"He was very, very sick, on death's door," said Keith Kocis, a critical care pediatrician at UNC Hospitals who treated Ahmad. "We used extreme measures to keep him alive."

One of Ahmad's classmates at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center had been diagnosed with H1N1, and Shah suspects that's where his son caught the virus.

Being under the age of 5, Shah's twins were in the high-risk group for complications from H1N1.

The hospital has successfully treated one other child who became critically ill with the H1N1 virus, and one person, not a child, has died from the flu at UNC Hospitals, Kocis said.

In Ahmad's case, as soon as he arrived in the emergency room, doctors realized he was already in deep trouble. They sedated him and put in a breathing tube.

Ahmad was dehydrated and needed lots of fluid. Because of his asthma, his lungs were severely affected, Kocis said.

"We gave him four different medicines to try to help with his severe asthma," Kocis said. "Then his lungs also got a secondary bacterial infection on top of that."

Kocis kept Ahmad unconscious and paralyzed throughout his 10 days in the ICU so that Ahmad wouldn't feel any pain or yank at the various tubes and needles in his body.

For his father, each minute of every day was terrifying.

"It was horrible," Shah said. "It was almost like my hands were tied, and there was absolutely nothing I could do."

Shah, a single father, felt helpless, but he tried to remain optimistic.

"I had to remain upbeat every time I went into that room," he said. "I made sure I was in great spirits. I would suppress reality about what was actually going on."

His pastor, Peter Carman of Binkley Baptist Church, helped him through the most difficult times, he said.

Slowly, Ahmad began to recover, and after 10 days in the ICU he was transferred to a regular room at the hospital for another three days. It was another three weeks of recovery at home after that before Ahmad was able to return to school.

The H1N1 virus is a pandemic that can strike people of all ages. Although most people recover at home without too many problems, some don't.

Children under the age of 5 are in a high-risk group.

If a child comes down with flu symptoms, Kocis said, it's important for parents to make sure the child drinks lots of fluids and that they mange their child's fever with Tylenol or Motrin.

"Dehydration is a major reason to come to the hospital," he said.

Another symptom parents should look for is difficulty breathing, breathing fast, breathing deeply and inability to speak, he said. An altered mental status or severe lethargy are also signs that a child needs immediate medical care.

"Those are emergencies," Kocis said. "A parent needs to call 911 and bring them to the emergency room."

Shah is grateful for Kocis and the other doctors and nurses who took care of his son.

"This whole situation is a miracle that this guy is still here," Shah said.

LOOKING FOR WORK

Shah quit his job in IT at the university to stay home and take care of his son, and is now looking for another job.

For more information about Shah, go to: http://aaronshah.wordpress.com