“ She was a perfect child ”

A family in Florida mourns the loss of an 8-year-old girl who died after showing signs of a rare but serious syndrome linked to the novel coronavirus, her father has said.

Deaurra Nealy, a sophomore at Twin Lakes Academy Elementary School in Jacksonville, died on Sunday – just days after showing signs of childhood coronavirus-related multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C), said her father, Dearick Nealy, on local news station WJXT.

“A perfectly healthy child, who comes just for a normal stomach ache and a negative COVID test,” he said. “And then his fever wouldn’t break.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), MIS-C is a condition that often causes inflammation in different parts of the body, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or the gastrointestinal organs.

Symptoms of the disease often include fever, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, neck pain, rash, bloodshot eyes, and fatigue.

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At this time, doctors don’t know what exactly causes MIS-C. But many children who develop it “had the virus that causes COVID-19, or had been around someone with COVID-19,” according to the CDC.

Nealy said her daughter had tested positive for anti-coronavirus antibodies, indicating that she had been infected with the virus at some point.

“She was striving to be excellent at everything, her grades. She had all 100’s and 95’s, and she thought that wasn’t good enough. That’s the kind of person she was,” recalls -he. She wanted to uplift people, and she lit the room when she entered. I mean, she inspired so many people in such a short time. I just knew she was just a perfect kid. “

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After her daughter’s death, Nealy encouraged others to continue to take COVID-19 seriously – especially if they have children.

“A lot of people are told that COVID-19 does not affect children. And so a lot of people get lazy with simple sanitary measures like masks and hand sanitizer – just something simple, ”he says. “It’s to help not pass this on to anyone.”

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