Michigan, United States: A five-year-old girl who had told her parents a month ago about recurring headaches has passed away after contracting COVID-19.
It is believed that Skylar Herbert is the first child in Michigan to pass away from COVID-19.
After she told her parents of the headache, Skylar tested positive for coronavirus last month.
According to Detroit News, she eventually developed a rare type of meningitis and her brain was swelling.
LaVondria, Skyler’s mother, said she had no clue how their child could have gotten infected.
Following a two-week period on a ventilator, Skylar’s condition failed to improve, and she passed away last Sunday.
According to her parents, she had no underlying health conditions.
After the girl’s passing from meningoencephalitis, a rare complication of COVID-19, a spokesperson for the family made a statement saying:
“The loss of a child, at any time, under any circumstances, is a tragedy,” the statement reads.
“We are heartbroken that COVID-19 has taken the life of a child.
“We extend our deepest sympathies to Skylar’s family and all others who have lost a loved one to this virus.”
When the child’s headache would not ease with medication, her parents, LaVondira and Ebbie brought her to see a doctor on March 23.
Skylar tested positive for strep throat and was put on antibiotics.
But when she did not show any signs of improvement, her parents called the doctor back.
“We called the doctor back, and they told us that it takes the medication 48 hours to kick in and to give it some time, but because she was crying so bad, I told my husband we needed to take her to emergency because I just didn’t know,” LaVondria told Detroit News.
Skylar tested positive for coronavirus but was let go the next day.
Just a few hours later, they had to bring her back.
“We went back to emergency … because I noticed my husband was coughing and having shortness of breath,” LaVondria said.
“Me and Skylar waited in the car, but out of nowhere, Skylar began complaining about her head hurting again and then she just threw up.”
The girl then experienced a seizure and was brought into ICU, where her parents were told she had developed meningitis.
But, Skylar never woke from her sleep.
“We decided to take her off the ventilator today because her improvement had stopped,” LaVondria said last Sunday.
“The doctors told us that it was possible she was brain dead, and we basically just knew she wasn’t coming back to us.”
For Local 4, WDIV’s report on the story, see the video below.
Our condolences go out to Skylar’s family. May she Rest In Peace.
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