A 3-year-old boy from Missouri who was diagnosed with the coronavirus was partially paralyzed after suffering a stroke – and is likely to make a full recovery, a local report said.
Little Colt Parris lost the ability to move his right arm and leg on Wednesday, hours after he tested positive for COVID-19 at the University of Missouri Children’s and Children’s Hospital, NBC affiliate KSN-TV reported.
“I went to hand him his Boo (stuffed animal) and I realized that he didn’t use his dominant arm to grab him,” his mother, Sara Parris, told the station.
“I knew that something else was not right.”
Doctors did tests and found a blockage in the child’s brain.
“The result came back and I looked at it and it was a clear stroke,” which cut the blood from the boy’s left brain, said pediatric neurologist Dr. Paul Carney.
In 20 years of medical practice, Carney said he had never seen a case like this.
“What was different here was a child and as I mentioned, there really is no other case like this,” he told the outlet.
The tot required surgery to treat the clot and was recovering Thursday at the hospital in Columbia, Missouri
He must recover fully and may return home next week.
Dr. Camilo Gomez, a neurologist at the hospital, said doctors were investigating the extent of a link between COVID-19 and possible neurological problems.
“The diagnosis of COVID is important because we think that the reason why (patients) with COVID, including the child, have strokes and a variety of other problems is that they are prone to forming clots,” Gomez told the channel.
The boy’s parents said they were grateful to the caregivers and hoped the situation would raise awareness of how to take precautions to stem the spread of the virus.
“Masks and stuff, people have to wear them,” said father Tim Parris.
“It’s important. If you don’t want your kids to go through this, people need to be more aware.”