A five-year-old girl has died after contracting meningitis, as a rare complication of coronavirus.
Little Skylar Herbert told her parents she had a bad headache about a month ago, but it wasn’t a symptom of coronavirus.
A trip to her GP saw him test for strep throat, she was given antibiotics and sent home to rest.
Mum LaVondria Herbert, 46, told the Detroit News : “She had been crying all night and saying the headache would not go away.
“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.”
She and husband Ebbie, are first responders in Detroit, so took their daughter to the Beaumont Royal Oak hospital.
Skylar tested positive for Covid-19 and was released the next day to recover at home, but the family arrived back at the hospital the next day when her dad Ebbie began having shortness of breath and coughing.
Mrs Herbert 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.”
Although her temperature was now 100°F, she was shivering, and suddenly had a seizure.
The family rushed her back into the hospital and little Skylar ended up in intensive care.
She was placed on a ventilator for two weeks, but she never opened her eyes again.
Skylar had developed meningitis, a rare complication of the coronavirus, which caused swelling of brain tissue and a lesion on her frontal lobe.
Speaking yesterday Mrs Herbert said: “We decided to take her off the ventilator today because her improvement had stopped, the doctors told us that it was possible she was brain dead, and we basically just knew she wasn’t coming back to us.”
A spokesman for Beaumont Health confirmed Skylar’s death, issuing the following statement: “The loss of a child, at any time, under any circumstances, is a tragedy.
“We are heartbroken that Covid-19 has taken the life of a child.
“We extend our deepest sympathy to Skylar’s family and all others who have lost a loved one to this virus.”
Paying tribute to her daughter, LaVondria said: “She was the type of girl that would just run up to you and jump in your arms and hug you.
“It didn’t matter what she was doing, she would stop what she was doing and tell me she loved me like 20 times a day.”