A North Carolina teenager has struggled to walk after falling ill with coronavirus disease, according to a report.
Cooper Hudson, 15, of Stanly County, was healthy and active until about two weeks ago, when he began to show strange symptoms, the WSOC news station reported.
“When he got up, he was so dizzy he could barely walk and it was awful,” his mother, Melanie Hudson, told reporters.
When his health changed, he was admitted to Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, where he tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies.
Doctors there diagnosed him with a virus-related condition known as Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in children or MIS-C.
The condition attacks children’s organs about two weeks after they have contracted the virus.
“I mean, I knew it was serious, but I didn’t know how serious it was in the early days,” Cooper’s father, Matt Hudson, told reporters.
In Cooper’s case, the syndrome affected his liver and heart.
“His blood pressure was dropping fast and that was the sign that he had to go to the ICU,” his father said.
With the help of steroids, his health improved and he was discharged from the hospital.
But the teenager said he was still on his way to recovery.
“I’m still tired, but it will take some time,” Cooper told the store.