An adorable one-year-old Colorado toddler will be taken off life support on Friday after being diagnosed with the flu and croup, his heartbroken parents said.
Eric Ryan and Maegan Coffin are facing every parent's worst nightmare as they prepare to say goodbye to their son Alastor in a matter of days.
The couple first took their baby boy to an emergency department in Northglenn, about 13 miles north of Denver, on January 9.
They said he was diagnosed with flu and croup and sent home with steroids and Tamiflu. But his condition failed to improve and his frantic parents rushed him back to the hospital.
'After they did the X-ray, he stopped breathing,' Coffin, his stricken mother, told KDVR.
Doctors tried to intubate him before sending him by ambulance to a second hospital, which Alastor's mother claimed caused him to suffer a prolonged lack of oxygen.
Alastor's father wrote on Facebook over the weekend that his son had technically been pronounced dead on Saturday afternoon.
'It took me a while to be able to even write this,' Ryan posted. 'We always understood how severe his situation was but we would never give up hope on him.'
Eric Ryan and Maegan Coffin said their son Alastor, who is just one year old, will be removed from life support on Friday.
Alastor was diagnosed with human metapneumovirus and the croup, causing swelling in his throat and difficulty breathing.
He received treatment with steroids and Tamiflu but never recovered, according to his parents. This caused them to rush him back to the emergency room, where he stopped breathing.
Alastor's four heartbroken siblings had all gathered at his bedside along with their parents as they anxiously awaited the result of his brain activity test, only to have their hopes shattered.
Ryan described the agony of watching his children realize their brother would not survive.
'My other children wanted to be there for his test [last] Friday and watching them each break down destroyed a part of me,' Ryan said. 'None of them deserved this. I would do anything just to take their pain away.'
Ryan said that Alastor was 'such a happy baby and in his short time he became the center of our family.'
He added that he planned to have casts of Alastor's hands and feet made and said he still did not 'want to believe this is real.'
Coffin said her son was diagnosed with human metapneumovirus and croup, which would 'cause the swelling in his throat and make it hard for him to breathe,' she said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported an uptick in cases of the virus, which is most common in winter and spring and has no vaccine or treatment.
Human metapneumovirus is typically most severe for infants between six and 12 months old, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Ryan said over the weekend that Alastor had been pronounced dead on Saturday afternoon and described him as the 'center of our family'
Alastor's father said that he and his wife never intended to keep him on life support indefinitely but wanted to give him 'time to rest and see if there was any chance that his brain could heal'
The couple is considering legal action against the first emergency department that diagnosed Alastor and has already contacted an attorney, KDVR reported.
Ryan said he and his wife never wanted to keep Alastor on life support indefinitely, but said they felt rushed into making a decision.
'We wanted to give him time to rest and see if there was any chance that his brain could heal at all,' he wrote on April 6.
He had previously noted that Alastor's other organs were 'working fine' and claimed there 'shouldn't be any long term damage to any of them' if he woke up.
The father added that Alastor was not 'suffering or taking up a bed that could be used by someone else.'
He also claimed that when he asked doctors why there was a 'rush' to conduct a brain death test on Alastor, 'they wouldn't answer.'
'His siblings were already having a tough time with everything,' Ryan wrote.
'The last thing they needed to think is that if it was one of them that we wouldn't fight for them.'
Ryan shared a photo of Alastor with one of his other four children on shortly after midnight on Monday
Ryan also claimed that a security guard at the unnamed hospital had prevented him from seeing his son at the pediatric intensive care unit just before midnight yesterday.
'I even told the guard that I have been in his room every day and no one has said anything,' he wrote on Facebook.
'It's like he almost didn't believe me,' Ryan added. 'I haven't threatened anyone here. I haven’t even raised my voice with anyone.'
Ryan claimed that a nurse eventually helped convince security into letting him see his son during his final week.
'Not only has this been one of the worst experiences of our lives but this hospital has made it so much worse,' he posted.
He also ironically noted that he would 'figure out' in the morning how he 'became a threat to the PICU.'
'I just want all of this to be over already,' Ryan said.
The family has started a GoFundMe to help cover their living expenses. As of Tuesday morning, the fundraiser had raised about $7,800 of its initial $9,000 goal.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Ryan and Coffin for further comment.