UTICA, NY – On Monday, Xavier Harris was happy as always. The 4-year-old boy could not stand still, running around the house and teasing his older brothers. He was a whirlwind of movement, said his mother.
But Xavier – who was called Xavy by his family – had a fever that day, said his mother, Chantel Brooks. Like any child, he had fevers before and was not too high, so his mother gave him some Tylenol.
On Tuesday, Brooks learned that his mother had tested positive for Covid-19. Xavier spent one night over the weekend at his grandmother’s house. They wore masks, but Brooks was still concerned.
She called the pediatrician, who said not to take him to the emergency room, but to monitor his symptoms.
Six days after he fell ill, the brave, thin, overactive Xavier of 18 kilos was dead. Brooks said doctors told her that he died of cardiac arrest as a complication of Covid.
“I miss my son calling my name 57 times a day just to say ‘hi’,” she said on Thursday. “I miss him crawling on the bed with me. Now I look and he’s not there. I can not sleep. “
Covid’s deaths among children are very rare.
In New York state, only nine children aged 9 and under died from Covid, according to the state Department of Health.
Children make up 0.07% of all Covid-19 deaths, according to a report this month from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association, based on data from 42 states. In all, 172 children died from Covid across the country, the report said.
Xavier, who was in pre-K at Utica, was very healthy, said his mother.
“He was not a sick child. He had no underlying condition, ”she said. “I have cancer and I am diabetic. Everyone was afraid that I would understand, which is why we wear our masks all the time and use Instacart. “
When Xavier did not improve and his fever rose to 40, Brooks took him to the emergency room at St. Luke’s Hospital in Utica on Wednesday morning. She told them about her positive mother test for Covid, so they tested Xavier, but he tested negative.
They did a chest X-ray, she said, and found two white spots on her lungs. They put an IV in, as he was unable to keep anything in his stomach, including fluids, she said.
Brooks said she asked if he could take another Covid test. This time, Xavier was positive.
At Christmas, Xavier was still in the hospital, but his fever broke and he started asking for something to drink. He was talking, smiling and telling the doctors that he just wanted to watch his movie “Toy Story 4” and go home. Doctors said that if he continued to make progress, he would be released the next day.
Brooks called her other two children, Darell, 12, and Jeremiah, 10. They said they wanted to wait for their younger brother to return home on Saturday before opening the presents.
Suddenly, on Friday, Xavier started to struggle to breathe, Brooks said. Another chest X-ray showed that the spots on the lungs had increased. On Saturday morning, they rushed him to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, she said.
In Upstate’s In the emergency room, he was surrounded by doctors and nurses, who Brooks said were wonderful for him. Xavier was conscious, talking and asking about his mother.
“He didn’t look that sick,” she said. “He smiled at the doctor, but he didn’t want to be touched by anyone. He told me that he wanted to go home. “
The doctors who attended Xavier let his mother hold his hand.
“Don’t leave me,” his mother remembers his son saying. She assured him that she would not go anywhere until he went with her.
Suddenly, Brooks said he heard the machine stop beeping next to his bed.
“They took me out of the room to work on him, but I saw his face and I knew he was gone,” she said. “I knew it was bad, but I hoped they could do something to get it back.”
Xavier died at 7:20 am the day after Christmas. Brooks said she was told he had cardiac arrest because of Covid.
The doctors let her into the room to see her son, and she sat for a while holding his hand and saying how much she loved him.
“I love you and I’m sorry, ” Brooks remembers having repeated it several times.
Xavier Harris (second from left) poses for vacation photos with his mother, Chantel Brooks, and his brothers, Jeremiah, 10 and Darell, 12.Photo provided
Brooks, a 32-year-old single mother, was left with a huge hole in her heart and many questions. Why her son? Why did this happen?
Xavier was a welcome surprise, she said, born after having a miscarriage and was not sure if she could have more children.
“I lost my miraculous baby,” she said. “I don’t feel normal anymore. I feel like I’m not complete. “
Recovering from Xaiver’s death and funeral on Wednesday, Brooks said she is comforted with the support of her family, friends, classmates from the school district of the city of Utica, where she is an assistant teacher, and strangers as well. . People sent cards, brought food and contributed to a fundraiser to pay for funeral expenses.
The obituary
More than 150 people attended the funeral at Zoom or spent hours calling, a few people at a time, she said. It helps, but Brooks said he won’t bring his son back.
Brooks and his two children tested negative for Covid. Her mother’s only symptoms were a cold and a cough. She is recovered now.
Brooks wants people to know that getting sick with the coronavirus can happen to you, young or old. Nobody is safe, nobody can be sure that he will recover.
“We followed the guidelines, ” she said. “How can it spread so quickly? For me, it’s crazy. I don’t want anyone else to experience what I just went through. ”
Elizabeth Doran covers education, suburban government and development, breaking news and more. Have a tip, comment or idea for a story? Contact her anytime at 315-470-3012 or email [email protected]