He woke up congested. That’s all it was — a stuffy nose, labored breathing, the kind of morning that sends thousands of parents to urgent care every winter.
For Eric Ryan and Maegan Coffin of Colorado, that ordinary January morning became the last one they would ever have with their one-year-old son, Alastor.

A Diagnosis, a Prescription, and a Door That Should Never Have Closed
On January 9, the family brought Alastor to an emergency department in Northglenn, a Denver suburb. Doctors diagnosed him with flu and croup, gave him steroids and Tamiflu, and sent the family home. FOX31 Denver
He didn’t get better.
The following night, Alastor’s breathing became even more labored, so his parents rushed him back to the ER. Shortly after they arrived, he stopped breathing — and his heart stopped. GoFundMe
What came next was a cascade of transfers that would define the rest of his life.
Doctors attempted to intubate him, then sent him by ambulance to a second hospital, where the family says he suffered a prolonged lack of oxygen. He was then airlifted to a third hospital. FOX31 Denver
Five hospitals. One toddler. And a clock that had already run out.

A Virus Most Parents Have Never Heard Of
Doctors later identified that Alastor had been infected with Human Metapneumovirus — HMPV — combined with croup, which causes severe swelling of the airway and makes breathing extremely difficult, particularly in infants. FOX31 Denver
HMPV was first discovered in 2001 but remains far less well known than RSV, despite belonging to the same virus family. Pediatric infectious disease specialists note that it can cause symptoms very similar to RSV, sometimes progressing into pneumonia or bronchiolitis and wheezing. UC Davis Health
Infants and young children under 2 are at the highest risk for severe complications. UC Davis Health
And according to the CDC, HMPV cases have been rising sharply across the United States this year FOX31 Denver — a surge that has caught many families off guard.

Here’s What We Know

January 9: Alastor, 18 months old, is taken to Northglenn ER. Diagnosed with flu and croup, sent home with medication.
January 10: His condition worsens. Parents return to the ER. During an X-ray, Alastor stops breathing and his heart stops.
Doctors revive him, but he is transferred by ambulance, then airlifted to a third hospital for advanced care. GoFundMe
Their attorney confirms Alastor was declared brain dead at a Denver hospital. NewsBreak
The family contacts an attorney and is considering legal action against the first emergency department. FOX31 Denver

“None of Them Deserved This”
Alastor had four siblings. They were all present.
In a raw Facebook post, Eric wrote of the moment his family underwent the brain activity test: “My other children wanted to be there for his test… and watching them each break down destroyed a part of me. None of them deserved this.”
He also described being temporarily denied access to his own son in intensive care — despite having been at Alastor’s bedside every single day.
“It’s like he almost didn’t believe me… I haven’t threatened anyone here. I haven’t even raised my voice,” Eric wrote.
He was eventually allowed back in. But the wound of that moment — layered on top of everything else — has not healed.

The Weight of Waiting
The family’s GoFundMe, launched in January, described the impossible reality of having four other children at home while both parents remained at Alastor’s hospital bedside, unable to work. GoFundMe Thousands of strangers responded. The money won’t change anything — but it tells a grieving father that the world saw his son.
In one of his final public posts before Friday, Eric wrote simply: “I just want all of this to be over already.”
Not giving up. Not moving on. Just a father running on empty, telling the truth about what it costs to love someone you’re about to lose.

Why This Story Goes Beyond One Family
Alastor’s death is not an isolated tragedy — it is a warning.
There is currently no antiviral drug approved specifically for HMPV, and no licensed vaccine exists. UC Davis Health A PCR test is the most reliable way to diagnose it, but doctors often skip this step for patients presenting with ordinary cold or flu symptoms — because in most cases, HMPV is mild. WHO
For Alastor, it wasn’t.
This winter, while parents everywhere weighed the familiar calculus of “ER or wait and see,” a virus most had never heard of was quietly pushing infants to the edge. Infectious disease specialists say that with COVID quieter this season, viruses like HMPV are surging to fill the gap — competing with the flu for vulnerable young immune systems. University of Nebraska Medical Center
The Coffin family trusted the system. They went back when their instincts told them something was wrong. They did everything right.
It wasn’t enough.
Alastor will be remembered as a joyful baby — the warm, irreplaceable center of a home that will spend the rest of its life missing him. He was one year old.