A New Hampshire mom is warning parents of the potential complications from COVID-19 after her 9-year-old son had to behospitalized for an inflammatory conditionthat left him with temporary heart damage.
Joey Pellegrini, an elementary school student from Fremont, New Hampshire, was “a healthy, normal child” with “no prior medical history or concerns,” and no allergies, his mom, Jane,told WBUR 9.
In early October, Joey and his 12-year-old brother contracted COVID-19 during a surge in cases in the area, but both recovered from the virus without seemingly any issue.
After finishing up his quarantine, Joey had gone back to school and was fine for two weeks, until he suddenly started feeling sick on a Friday.
“I chalked it up to a stomach bug, along with a fever that was higher than I was comfortable with,” Jane said. “But again, we’re dealing with the weekend, so I thought, ‘Let’s see if we can ride it out.’ "
“His heart is beating really fast. So much that, visibly, his body was vibrating at one point, which is really scary,” Jane said.
She took him first to urgent care, then the local hospital, before doctors had him moved out of state to the pediatric intensive care unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. Doctors determined that Joey hadMIS-C, multisystem inflammatory syndrome, a potentially fatal conditionoccurring in young kids who have had COVID-19. The syndrome causes body parts like the lungs, heart, kidneys, brain and other organs to become inflamed.
Therisk of developing MIS-Cis one reason why doctors and health experts arerecommending that young kids aged 5 to 11 get the newly-approved COVID-19 vaccine.
Joey is now stable and doing well, though MIS-C has affected his heart. His doctors have said, though, that it should only be a temporary issue and he should make a full recovery.
After seeing her son deal with MIS-C, Jane is urging parents to follow mask and vaccine recommendations, and to keep an eye out for the potential symptoms — fever, stomach pain, vomiting, bloodshot eyes, skin rash and dizziness.
source: people.com
