7-week-old Youngstown baby in desperate need of liver transplant amid severe flu season

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calls this year’s flu season the worst in over a decade.

The severity of the virus is hitting close to home for one Youngstown family, as their 7-week-old baby girl, Aubrey Curry, battles a critical health crisis.

Aubrey is fighting for her life in the hospital, in desperate need of a liver transplant.

"We're hoping to get one fairly soon, which is likely to happen they said, but the wait is so awful," said her mother, Ashley Young.

Aubrey was born on January 12th, arriving five weeks early but healthy enough to go home. Her family of six was settling in when they all came down with the flu. But for tiny Aubrey, the illness took a devastating turn.

"She was very lethargic and not moving really," Young said, "She is definitely fighting. She's a trooper."

Doctors diagnosed Aubrey with acute liver failure. She is now on dialysis at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, waiting for a transplant. She is at the top of the donor list, but her family fears that if she does not receive a liver soon, other organs could begin to shut down.

"They were hoping that her liver would recover, but it has not. It has gotten worse. It's like it doesn't work at all right now. So, she is on dialysis. It's a CRRT machine, and she's on a phoresis machine, just so that they can keep her stable until they get a liver," she said, "but there's risks with that if we don't get one soon enough."

The family expects to be in Cincinnati for up to six months. With only one income and mounting medical expenses, a relative has set up a GoFundMe to help ease the financial burden.

"They did say, this is a rocky procedure, so she's going to have her ups and downs, and it's going to be pretty much like climbing a mountain," she said. 

Those who wish to support the family can donate through their GoFundMe page: Baby Aubrey's Medical Bills and Lifesaving Transplant