‘I Could Feel His Little Heartbeat Fade Away’: 8-Year-Old Boy Dies Just 16 Hours After Getting Sick

A mom in Indiana is mourning the loss of her son after he contracted a preventable illness. She is still unsure how her son caught the illness that would end up quickly killing him, and may never know for sure. But she now knows the pain of losing a child, and is speaking out to save other parents the same pain. After watching her son Liam Dahlberg die, Ashlee Dahlberg is sharing their story to highlight the importance of vaccinations. Because they don’t only keep one person safe, they keep everyone safe.

Ashlee Dahlberg spoke with WTHR after the death of her son Liam. In April 2025, the 8-year-old boy came home from school with a headache. The next morning, the family was rushing him to the hospital. That’s when they learned that he had contracted a bacterial infection called Haemophilus influenzae. It is also known as “H. flu” or “Hib.”

It’s a bacteria, not a virus, and it’s very deadly. Typically, kids are vaccinated against the illness as babies.

“We later found out that he contracted invasive Hib, which is the more aggressive form of Hib,” Dahlberg explained. “They took him to an MRI. That’s when they discovered the amount of bacteria that was covering his brain and spinal cord. Basically at that point in time, there was nothing they could do.”

That’s when she knew her son was going to die.

“It’s hard. To have sat there and listened to the doctors say, ‘You did everything right, there’s just nothing we could do,’ to lay there with him as they took him off life support, I can feel his little heartbeat fade away — there’s no words that can describe that pain,” the mom said.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, mild cases of Haemophilus influenzae can cause bronchitis. But more severe cases of the illness can cause septic arthritis, septicemia, and meningitis.

WTHR spoke with Dr. Eric Yancy about the illness. He said it was “absolutely devastating” in the mid-1970s and early 1980s. If kids contracted it and didn’t die quickly, they would suffer “significant complications.” But then a vaccine was developed, and doctors “pretty much had it under control.” In recent years as vaccination rates have fallen, it’s coming back.

Liam Dahlberg was vaccinated, but he likely caught it from someone who wasn’t. So his mom is urging parents to vaccinate their kids. She doesn’t want them to lose their kids the way she lost hers.

“I feel like I have failed my child because I could not protect him from everything that would cause harm,” Dahlberg shared.

A GoFundMe was created by friends of the family to help them with the extremely high medical costs they’re now dealing with. “Liam was a bright and smart young boy, full of life and potential. His presence brought joy and warmth to everyone he met,” the fundraiser reads.