‘HIS LIPS WERE BLUE’
Healthy boy, 8, went from having no symptoms to being on a ventilator fighting for life within 5 days
A HEALTHY young boy in New York City went from having no symptoms to being on a ventilator after suffering cardiac arrest and heart failure within days.
Jayden Hardowar, eight, had and was suffering from diarrhea in late April, .
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His parents and he was given Tylenol — which his parents said he responded well to.
Jayden’s fever broke in a few days, but his father, Roup, told the news outlet that the boy didn’t get better.
“His body strength started to go down, he started to become a little bit weak,” Roup said.
“We followed up with his pediatrician, and they thought that he would come around, maybe because he wasn’t eating a lot.”
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Days later on April 29, Jayden’s mother, Navita, said she heard her son softly call for her, and knew something was wrong.
“I heard him call for mommy. Jayden has a strong voice when he calls for mommy, (but) his voice was very low,” she said. “That voice grabbed my attention.”
When Navita checked on Jayden, she said his head and hands “were twisted in an unorthodox position backward.”
"I quickly looked over at his face and his lips were all blue at that point, so right away I knew something was not right here with Jayden," his mother said.
The boy’s older brother began to perform CPR on him as their mom called 911 — and Jayden was rushed to the hospital within minutes.
Jayden was quickly in the intensive care unit, WNBC reported.
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The Hardowar family said it took five days for Jayden to get so sick he needed a machine to help him breathe.
Jayden’s parents said he suffered inflammation, cardiac arrest, and heart failure.
"It's still a nightmare thinking of where Jayden is right now. Last week about this time, we were all together having dinner, playing, working from home, teaching from home, learning from home," Navita said.
"One of the scariest things as a mother, we're at home thinking something like this will never happen to us."
Jayden’s parents said his coronavirus test came back negative — but after an antibody test was conducted, doctors said Jayden had earlier in time.
"None of us — six of us in the home: two adults, four kids — none of us had been sick,” the boy’s father told WNBC of the family, who lives in Queens.
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“We've all been very strong and practicing our social distancing very diligently ... we thought we were safe.”
Jayden was taken off the ventilator over the weekend, just three days after he was transported to the hospital.
His parents said they spoke with him on Sunday and hope to bring Jayden home soon.
Dr. James Schneider, who works at Cohen Children's Hospital where Jayden was hospitalized, said two more patients with similar symptoms as Jayden were hospitalized on Sunday.
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Medics say they have six such cases in the ICU.
On Monday, health experts said a new syndrome in children is linked to coronavirus inflammation that can cause shock and organ failure in kids.
Mayor said on Tuesday that it was a “concern” to the city and that similar cases in people under the age of 21 needed to be reported immediately.
The symptoms, according to health officials, are similar to toxic shock syndrome, .
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The city’s health department said on Monday that 15 such cases have been identified in the city.
Jayden’s mom said: “The fact that we don’t know enough is very scary. It’s a moment I don’t ever want to relive or would like any parent to experience.”
“He was a little kid, lying in bed with his mom — and then he went into cardiac arrest,” the boy’s dad said. “A cardiac arrest could have been avoided if we were in the hospital earlier and (caught) it earlier.”
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