11-year-old fighting rare illness associated with COVID-19 in Texas hospital, mom says

An 11-year-old Texas boy was fighting a rare and sometimes-deadly illness associated with COVID-19 over the holidays, his mother says.

“I had no idea this even existed,” Angie Abbott, who lives in Abilene, posted on Facebook this week.

Abbott’s son Cason was in the intensive-care unit at Cook Children’s Medical Center after doctors diagnosed him with multisystem inflammatory syndrome, or MIS-C, the Abilene Reporter News reported.

Children infected with COVID-19 can develop the potentially serious and deadly syndrome that affects the heart, lungs, kidneys, skin, eyes and brain. Some kids develop neurological symptoms, including confusion, headaches, muscle weakness and reduced reflexes.

Nearly 1,300 cases have been reported in the U.S., including more than 50 in Texas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most children develop MIS-C two to four weeks after infection with the virus, the CDC says.

Cason, who’s in fifth grade, has been sick since mid-December, Abbott told KTXS. She said he’s had a high fever and swelling throughout his body, including the heart, which has caused it to pump improperly, the news outlet reported.

Abbott told WFAA her son is suffering far worse from MIS-C than the coronavirus, forcing him to be hospitalized in the pediatric ICU this week.

“The swelling,” Abbott told WFAA on Wednesday. “Right now, our main thing is making sure it doesn’t get to his brain.”

This story was originally published January 1, 2021 at 12:13 PM with the headline "11-year-old fighting rare illness associated with COVID-19 in Texas hospital, mom says."