Why did a healthy, active 4-year-old child develop this polio-like illness?

"I did not know what the word" lethargic "meant before I saw it at my son's," said Voland. "He did not eat much. Then we tried to keep him up. He took two steps and collapsed.

Voland made Elijah run for medical care, and doctors at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center said Thursday that he appeared to be suffering from acute flaccid myelitis, a strange and rare paralysis that mainly affected children aged 4 to 8 years old.

Researchers at the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have not yet confirmed that Elie has the disorder, as verification takes a lot of time. So far this year, 80 cases have been confirmed in 25 states.

► October 19th: Scientists seek solutions to a disease causing paralysis similar to polio
► 18th of October: What parents should know about AFM, a crippling disease similar to polio
► 9th of October: People in 22 states have been diagnosed with this rare polio-like disease

But the doctors at his children's hospital say that Elijah has the symptoms and treats him accordingly. His legs are paralyzed, but he follows a daily intensive physical and occupational therapy that his mother says he treats as a game.

The incidence of acute flaccid myelitis is less than 1 in a million, but the number of cases has been increasing since 2014, said the CDC. No one yet knows which germ is causing the disease, although CDC researchers say that it could be a virus.

Some children have recovered completely and others suffer from long-term paralysis.

Elijah is supported by Dr. Josh Schaffzin, an infectious disease specialist, and Dr. Marissa Vawter-Lee, pediatric neurologist. On Thursday, at a press conference at the hospital, doctors announced that cases of acute flaccid myelitis began with cold symptoms.

Most children quickly heal from a cold, Schaffzin said. But parents must "trust their instincts, and if something does not seem right and your child is not better, ask for help."

Elijah is not among those five people because the CDC has not confirmed his case. The disease is treated with the same type of interventions as brain and spinal cord injuries, such as physical or occupational therapy.

Elie's prognosis is still pending, said Vawter-Lee.

"It's something we have to do week after week and month by month," she said.

Voland, 24, is a US Army veteran who served in Kuwait and is now a full-time student at Northern Kentucky University. She and Elijah live with her grandmother in the Burlington-Hebron area of ​​northern Kentucky, although now we live in the hospital.

She said that she had to leave her job at the Guitar Center to stay with her son, but her campus friends and the Hebron Baptist church community have backed it with a GoFundMe page and d & # 39; Other fundraisers.

For now, Elijah can move his left leg and ankle a little and can take a few steps when he is fully supported, Voland said. He tells his mother that his legs are broken.

"I like to say: we are on this road. It's the new normal, "she said. "He'll be fine though because I'm his mother. We will continue. "