A 38-year-old man has been placed in a medically induced coma following the deterioration of his health as a result of an influenza infection. The Alabama native was fit and healthy celebrating Christmas with his family when he suddenly got very sick.  “On Christmas night, my husband started to feel bad,” Adam York’s wife, Felicia, told PEOPLE. “He was sick for about a week and then, on New Year’s Day, we started to hear fluid in his lungs when he was breathing. His lungs were filling, but he couldn’t get anything out.”

Felicia said she tried every over-the-counter medicine she could find, but nothing worked. Just 24 hours later, Adam was rushed to the emergency room where doctors discovered that he had two different strains of the flu, which had caused pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) — a condition that explains the fluid in Adam’s lungs and his difficulty breathing. “It was unbelievable. I remember thinking, ‘How did this happen?’” the mother-of-three added. READ MORE