‘He was completely normal’: Boy in Tooele County recovers from syndrome caused by COVID-19

GRANTSVILLE – Meghan McCormick said one day her son was fine, then the next day he had a high fever, was exhausted and sick with a syndrome caused by COVID-19 – except no one knew he had the coronavirus .

It was a confusing time, even for their pediatrician who didn’t even suspect it had anything to do with COVID-19.

Ask 7-year-old Easton McCormick how it went, and he won’t mince words. “Poo-caca,” he exclaimed.

It was not good. We are talking about multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, also known as MIS-C. It is a rare disease that can make children really sick after contracting COVID-19.

“He woke up with a fever of 104 so yeah, it was really high,” Meghan McCormick said.

They had no idea her son, or really anyone else in the house, had COVID-19.

“We didn’t know he even had COVID,” she said. “So yes, he was asymptomatic and no one else in the house… either we were all asymptomatic or none of us, no one else understood him.”

Easton McCormick was happy and healthy on March 5.

“And it happens fast,” said Meghan McCormick. “It’s not something like we’re, ‘Oh yeah, Easton hasn’t been feeling well for the past few days. It really doesn’t seem. “It was totally normal. Actually, we were at Disney on Ice Friday night, then Saturday is when it started.”

McCormick said things changed for them two days later.

“Her vital signs were terrible,” she says. “His oxygen was below 90. His heart rate was really high.”

There were also rashes and red eyes.

MIS-C can inflame organs and parts of the body. It is still new and rare.

“His pediatrician just assumed he had ambulatory pneumonia or it was something with his asthma, so he gave us some medicine and we went home,” McCormick said. “And when we got home, he threw up violently.

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The scary thing about MIS-C is that the kids will be fine and then they won’t.

–Meghan McCormick

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Easton McCormick spent seven days in the Children’s Primary Hospital, part of which was in the intensive care unit. Her mother said parents need to be aware of the symptoms and may need to ask specific questions about MIS-C, especially if they know their child has recently had COVID-19.

“The scary thing about MIS-C is that the kids will be okay, and then they won’t be okay,” said Meghan McCormick. “And the hard part is that our healthcare professionals don’t know enough about it yet, because it’s linked to COVID and we’ve only had COVID for a year.”

Her son is better, but he is still told to relax a month later.

It is not easy to hold a 7 year old child. “No physical activity… no running, which is really difficult because he’s a very active kid,” said McCormick.

Easton McCormick still has some swelling, his liver activity was on the rise, and doctors are scheduling another CT scan for next week.

It’s not over yet, but things are going better after a scary experience for this family.

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