5-year-old dies after RSV complications, family says

SHOSHONE, Idaho (KMVT/Gray News) – A 5-year-old girl in Idaho died after suffering complications from RSV and pneumonia, the family said.

Willow Edwards got sick in December and never got better.

A friend close to the family told KMVT Willow’s mother took her to a hospital in Shoshone, Idaho when she noticed the little girl gasping to breathe.

Willow died after being flown to a hospital in Boise. The family said the RSV turned into pneumonia.

“It’s hard to lose people that have lived their life and gone through everything, and where Willow didn’t even get a chance at that, just because she didn’t have enough time, she wasn’t strong enough it’s a hard one,” family friend Erica Jacobson said.

The South Central Public Health District says the death hasn’t been confirmed to them yet, but RSV is very common in young children, and it can get severe very quickly.

“If their symptoms are getting really, really bad, they aren’t eating anything, not willing to get out of bed at all, coupled with that shortness of breath, and not drinking water, that’s the time to go to the doctor,” said Jacob Ward, an epidemiologist with the SCPHD.

Copyright 2023 KMVT via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.