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Nancy Bouchard lost her three-year-old daughter, Charlotte, to the flu last week. Now the devastated mother is trying to spread the word that elderly people are not the only ones in danger from the virus.

Charlotte seemed fine on Monday morning of last week when the Outaouais girl went to daycare, said Bouchard said in an interview Wednesday. That evening she seemed mildly unwell, but not in any real distress.

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The following day, however, she had a fever and stayed home, Bouchard said. It got steadily worse, but still her family didn’t think there was anything dangerously wrong. They gave her Motrin, a medication with ibuprofen.

But eventually her fever went higher and Charlotte began shaking. Her mother took her to hospital in Gatineau, and later she was sent by emergency transfer to Sainte-Justine Hospital in Montreal.

She died there on Thursday.

This week, Bouchard began contacting media. She had read a news article that said three elderly Gatineau residents had died of flu, and she wanted to spread the word that young, healthy children could also die of the disease.