FORT WORTH, Texas – A 9-year-old boy died of complications from Covid-19 last week at Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth, his family told ABC affiliate WFAA.
JJ Boatman was identified by the Tarrant County medical examiner. He had just turned 9 earlier this month, according to information found on a GoFundMe that was created for his family.
“I can’t imagine living without that boy here,” said the boy’s father, Jason Boatman. “He was just the life of this house.”
Boatman said JJ was active and alert, playing hide and seek with his family and watching happy TV the night before the hospitalization.
The next morning, Boatman said he heard JJ gasping a little, but said that his son’s health suddenly plummeted after he left for work.
“My supervisor came and called me and said that I needed to go to the ER because of JJ,” said Boatman. “My wife told me he was purple, blue and screaming that he couldn’t breathe. He was screaming for help.”
Boatman said JJ was rushed to a local hospital in Vernon, where he was informed that doctors had vigorously performed CPR on JJ to keep him alive.
The decision to take him to Cook Children’s was quickly made and Boatman and his wife took the tour as soon as their son was in the air.
“That trip was a nightmare,” said Barqueiro. “It was the longest trip of my life.”
As soon as Boatman and his wife arrived in Fort Worth, they said that Cook Children’s doctors said JJ’s lungs were filled with fluid and that his brain was swollen from lack of oxygen.
It was also likely that JJ was brain dead, Boatman told the WFAA after talking to doctors.
Once again, Boatman couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Her son had no symptoms the day before and the family is unaware of any underlying medical conditions.
A day later, JJ died.
“The nurse came and told me that her heart was stopping, and that is what happened,” said Boatman. “The hardest part was coming home, unlocking the door and seeing all your stuff in the living room.”
JJ’s death was the second of a child reported in recent days in Tarrant County.
The other boy who died was less than 1 year old and county officials from the youngest victim reported since the start of the pandemic.
Tarrant County Public Health Director Vinny Taneja said the boy’s death was a “rarity” and also heartbreaking.
Across the state, 13 children under the age of 9 died of coronavirus during the pandemic, according to data from the Texas Department of Health Services. Another 24 individuals between 10 and 19 years old died.
The Tarrant County medical examiner has yet to disclose the cause of JJ’s death, and his father is eager to see what an autopsy can reveal.
An emergency doctor with whom WFAA-TV spoke said that it is rare for a child to be a Covid patient and suddenly become ill and die.
The doctor, speaking strictly in the background, feared that an underlying condition not known to JJ’s family might have played a role.
Boatman and his wife said they tested negative for the virus and fear that JJ may have become infected at school.
The Vernon Independent School District immediately closed Central Elementary School after JJ’s death.
The school district medical advisor said all staff and students should be quarantined until February 1. Classes will resume that day after disinfecting the campus, the district said.
“We are heartbroken and our thoughts go to the student’s family,” wrote ISD Vernon superintendent Jeff Byrd in the statement.
The pain has not yet reached Barqueiro. His son, he said, was a joy. Exuberant, an excellent student and eager to learn to skate and also to play tennis.
He told WFAA-TV that he stopped at a local Target hours after JJ’s death, the last place he remembered visiting with his son.
At the time, JJ wanted some toys that Boatman was not ready to buy.
On the trip home after his death, Boatman went and bought them out of grief.
“It was just a comfort to me. I know he will never play with them. I know he will never know that he has them, but I bought everything he touched and wanted at that store,” said Boatman excitedly.
“There is simply something about being with him in that store. A person like him shouldn’t be leaving us.”