Hunter McConnell contracted COVID-19 last spring and had fairly mild symptoms. But after being diagnosed with the rare Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome, Hunter's mom doesn't want to go through the nightmare again.
"We've spoken to all the specialists at the Children's Hospital. We've seen cardiology and infectious disease and brilliant people who've all recommended that he does get the vaccine," said Tanyss McConnell, Hunter's mom. "He does have some natural immunity now, but we don't know how long that lasts. I don't want to chance it again."
Last spring, McConnell and her husband, along with their son, were all infected with COVID-19. While McConnell and her husband suffered from extreme fatigue, their son seemed to have fared relatively well.
"He [Hunter] had very mild symptoms, you almost wouldn't know that he had anything. He went back to school after quarantine and about six weeks later, he got a high fever," McConnell said. "Nothing was making it go away. We tried all the medication, nothing was helping."
The McConnells would visit Airdrie's Urgent Care three times and were sent home each time. A week after Hunter developed his fever, his parents took him to the Alberta Children's Hospital.
"As soon as they heard that he'd been positive for COVID and now had a high fever, they grabbed him and ran," she said. "He was brought into a room and there were 20 people running back and forth; they were looking at his heart."
Hunter was diagnosed with Multisystem inflammatory syndrome or MIS-C for short. According to an article penned by Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Medicine, Anna Christina Sick-Samuels, "MIS-C is an illness that can occur after COVID-19 infection and affects mostly school-age children. While the syndrome is rare, it can be dangerous."
Hunter had organ swelling, including swelling of the heart, he had trouble breathing and at one point he was put on oxygen.
"They told us that by the time he got to the Children's Hospital, we were within probably hours of him not making it," McConnell said.
When Hunter first developed a fever, his parents didn't at first connect it with COVID-19. They assumed since he had already gotten the virus and recovered, it was a bad cold or flu. They tried administering everything from Advil to Tylenol but nothing was combatting his 105 degrees (Fahrenheit) fever.
"We were getting pretty worried. He was definitely not well; he could hardly stand up. He just was laying down all the time," she said. "He wasn't eating wasn't drinking. You could just tell like he was not well."
According to Boston's Children Hospital, MIS-C has symptoms that are similar to toxic shock syndrome or Kawasaki disease. "Symptoms of MIS-C may vary from child to child. The main symptoms to watch for are a persistent fever (lasting more than 24 hours and usually present for several days), fatigued, rash, red eyes, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, or loss of appetite or not drinking enough fluids."
Hunter would spend three days in the ICU at the Alberta Children's Hospital and although he was discharged and regularly sees his pediatrician, the road to recovery has been a long one.
"He does suffer from PTSD. After he came home, he had difficulty sleeping, he only wanted to sleep if somebody was with him. He lost weight," McConnel said. "He didn't really want to go anywhere, he was terrified to leave the house for the longest time, afraid that he would get sick again."
McConnell said the time she spent in the ICU was terrifying and not something she ever wants to happen to her family again.
"[For] myself and my husband, it was the most terrifying thing we've ever had to go through. We were just sitting in the ICU and watching a million people running in and out and you could see the concern on their faces," she said. "We were pretty sure that he wasn't coming out of there. The three days that we were in ICU were just horrendous. We watched him get sicker and sicker."
According to Health Canada, "MIS-C is rare, with 269 cases reported to the Public Health Agency of Canada between March 11, 2020, and October 2, 2021.142 of these cases were lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases or epidemiologically-linked with COVID-19 cases." No deaths have been linked to MIS-C, however almost all cases require hospitalization and, "36 per cent required intensive care unit admission."
For McConnell and her family, though the condition is rare, she is determined not to have this repeated.
"Just get these kids vaccinated. You never know. We never thought it would happen to our kid either."