SAN ANTONIO -- Maurice Lamkin Jr. was an energetic boy anxious about wearing his Halloween costume.

It was also the beginning of flu season and Maurice's mother thought it would be a good idea for her son to get the flu vaccine.

But little did Michelle Mouille realize what would happen to her son after he got the shot.

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Boy's Mother: 'He Passed Away About Three Times'

"That night, he started running really high fevers," Mouille said recently in an interview with KSAT 12 News.

Mouille then took Maurice to the hospital, where he suffered multiple seizures, meningitis and encephalitis.

"(The doctors) said they had never seen a brain deteriorate so fast and so rapidly as his," Mouille said.

Maurice spent more than a month in intensive care, hooked up to several tubes and machines. Doctors didn't think he would survive.

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"He passed away about three times and they brought him back," Mouille said.

Maurice pulled through and is now back home, although he can't talk and eat on his own. His movement is also limited and he needs mental therapy not covered by insurance.

"They said it's just going to be a long road," Mouille said. "We'll have to wait and see."

Dr. Fernando Guerra, director of the Metropolitan Health District, said the chances of someone suffering severe mental illness after getting a vaccine is extremely rare. Guerra said the case is under review by the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Guerra said despite Maurice's case, children need to get the flu vaccine.