The coronavirus outbreak is causing widespread fear and concern. People are socially distancing and doing their best to keep themselves safe, but the virus doesn’t seem to spare anyone, including children as young as a day old.
Initially, researchers and epidemiologists believed children were at lower risk of contracting the virus, but the number of cases of youngsters affected proves that not to be completely relevant information.
One family is sharing how their one-year-old son was diagnosed with COVID-19 and are urging other parents of young children to be extra cautious.
UPDATE ON LUKE:
Thank you to all of you who have sent well wishes, prayers and everything else. Your love and kindness is greatly appreciated! Luke’s fever still persists, but is now very low with the constant Tylenol and Motrin. Now to watch Amanda…https://t.co/sU7TBTvH3n— Ryan Schreiber (@Ryan_Schreiber) April 6, 2020
Speaking of the symptoms the toddler from Farmington, Michigan, experienced, his mom Amanda May Schreiber told Detroit News, “He looked like he was passing out, I’m doing songs and acting crazy in the car and he just wasn’t responsive. It was one of the scariest moments of my life.”
The family self-isolated themselves and stayed home making sure they were regularly checking on their kids’ temperature. That morning of March 31, both Luke’s and his 4-month-old sibling Alistair’s temperature indicated they had fever.
“Luke woke up crying, which he never usually does, and he had a fever close to 103, a little more than Alistair’s,” Amanda said.
“I immediately thought ‘oh no,’ but we didn’t panic. We got them up, gave them Motrin and the fevers reduced quickly, so we hoped it was nothing to worry about.”
Luke’s condition didn’t get any better and his temperature rose to 106.5.
“I promise you we checked it 10 times using two different thermometers and checking it on ourselves, too.”
Amanda and Ryan tried many things i order to lower Luke’s temperature down, such as giving him a bath, but nothing seemed to help.
“Luke started screaming because it was cold, and we were obviously really scared because it all happened really quickly,” Ryan added. “In that quick moment of panic, you know you have to jump in action.”
The worried parents rushed their little boy to the hospital.
“Six hours after we got to the hospital, his fever was still at 104.5. He stayed the night. It took just 12 hours to get the results back that he was positive for COVID-19 because they do in-house testing,” Amanda told the Detroit News.
“Doctors told us that with that temperature, any longer before bringing him into the hospital he’s at a much higher risk for seizure and brain damage,” Ryan said. “There’s a lot of people who are, unfortunately, losing loved ones, and as long as we can keep Luke healthy, we’re lucky.”
For those of you that are the praying kind, throw an extra one our way. Our 22-month old Luke ended up in the hospital yesterday with a 106+ fever. Still 103 this morning, and waiting on suspected positive results of covid. He’s a champ so far. pic.twitter.com/GLwExUnZsd
— Ryan Schreiber (@Ryan_Schreiber) April 1, 2020
It’s bee a while since Luke was diagnosed with COVID-19 and doctors are still struggling to get his temperature down.
“It goes away and comes right back. We have yet to see a day without a fever at some point. He gets exhausted way faster and just needs to sleep more.”
“It’s important to stay vigilant,” Ryan said. “We thought we were doing everything that we could to prevent it. We were washing surfaces, we were cleaning hands, leaving mail and packages in the garage, and Luke still got it.”
We pray for sweet Luke to overcome the condition as soon as possible. And for the rest of the parents, make sure you keep your little ones as protected as possible.
