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Avella bauer
An 8-year-old Minnesota girl is now paralyzed after developing a rare autoimmune disease that her doctors say was triggered by COVID-19.
Avella Bauer was a talkative, athletic child who was “very healthy,” her mother, Lani Bauer, told NBC News, and “never even as much as she vomited.”
In early March, Avella developed a headache and a mild fever, and Lani kept her at home until her fever subsided. Back at school later in the week, her teacher called Lani, concerned about the way Avella was acting.
“I got a phone call from her after school telling me that I had to come and pick her up because she was not herself and she was sleeping in one of their small rooms,” said Lani said.
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One morning, Lani failed to wake Avella and rushed her to the hospital where she had a fever attack.
“It was terrifying, absolutely terrifying,” Lani told KMSP News.
There, Avella was diagnosed with Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis, or ADEM, a rare disease in which the body’s immune system attacks itself, resulting in swelling of the brain and spinal cord. The disease is triggered by a virus, and the only one for which Avella tested positive was COVID-19.
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“We certainly have every reason to believe COVID was the trigger virus here,” Avella pediatrician Dr Michael Pitt of the Masonic Children’s Hospital told the news station. “There are several reasons why I can say this with enough confidence. One – ADEM is triggered by viruses and COVID is a virus. Second, we are seeing case reports all over the world of ADEM where the only virus is COVID. “
“It is a heartbreaking story, something rare, which will probably change the life of a family forever,” he added.
Go finance me Avella Bauer, before her illness
Avella has been in hospital since March and is no longer able to see, speak or move her arms or legs, and must be tube-fed. Doctors had to remove the front part of his skull because of swelling in the brain.
Avella has shown signs of improvement – her doctors believe she may have regained some vision – but she will likely remain disabled for the rest of her life. The family already has over $ 1 million in medical bills and is fundraising on GoFundMe.
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Lani urges people to get vaccinated and wear masks to prevent this from happening to other children.
“If getting the vaccine and wearing your mask is one more step in preventing this from happening to another child, that’s what I want to stress, and I want to insist on making sure you are wearing your mask,” she told NBC News.
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