COLUMBIA, MO (KOMU) – A 3-year-old boy from Missouri is recovering at home after doctors said he suffered a stroke shortly after testing positive for COVID-19.
Sara Parris took her 3-year-old son, Colt, to the emergency room on December 15 because he was unable to hold fluids. He tested positive for COVID-19, and the next morning she noticed that he was not speaking normally.
“I just realized that he suffers so much and is so tired, because he doesn’t rest, that he doesn’t have the energy to speak,” Parris said.
But then he noticed that he did not grab his stuffed animal as he normally would. Instead of taking her with his right hand, she says that “he stretched his body completely with his left arm”.
It turned out that Colt had a stroke that interrupted his blood supply to the left side of his brain, preventing him from moving his right arm and leg.
Dr. Camilo Gomez, a neurologist at the hospital, says doctors analyzed the connection between the virus and neurological problems.
The diagnosis of COVID is important because we believe that the reason these COVID patients, including this child, have strokes and a variety of other problems is that they tend to form clots, Gomez said.
Gomez says his team rarely performs acute stroke interventions on children, but he is unheard of. He says helping Colt recover was the highlight of his week.
“The ability to provide that family with a child who is neurologically improved as Christmas unfolds, we felt was paramount to us. They were just walking in the sun, “he said.
Colt’s mother hopes that her experience will lead to a greater awareness of the complications of COVID-19, especially those that may occur in young children.
“It can be much worse than just the flu. The children will receive it, they can get it. You may not have symptoms, as we did. I had no indication that he really had it, “Parris said.
Colt has now been discharged from the hospital, but is still facing some problems with the movement of his right arm and leg. His mother says that if a stranger saw him, he might not know that something had happened, but, as his mother knows, he is not yet himself.
The 3-year-old is expected to fully recover from physical therapy.
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