UTICA, NY – On Monday, Xavier Harris was his usual happy self. The 4-year-old could not sit still, ran around the house and teased his older brothers. He was a wave of movement, his mother said.
But Xavier – who was named Xavy by his family – got a fever that day, his mother, Chantel Brooks, said. Like every child, he had had a fever before and it was not too high, and his mother gave him Tylenol.
Brooks learned Tuesday her mother tested positive for Covid-19. Xavier spent the weekend with his grandmother. They wore masks, but Brooks was still worried.
She called his pediatrician, who said he should not take care of him urgently, but to monitor his symptoms.
Six days after he first fell ill, the sputtering, thin, super-active, 40-pound Xavier was dead. Brooks said doctors told her he died of cardiac arrest as a complication of Covid.
“I miss my boy who calls my name 57 times a day to say ‘hello,'” she said on Thursday. ‘I miss him for crawling into bed with me. Now I’m watching and he’s not there. I can not sleep. ”
Covidity deaths among children are very rare.
In the state of New York, only nine children aged 9 or younger died from Covid, according to the Department of Health.
Children make up 0.07% of all deaths in Covid-19, according to a report this month by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association, based on data from 42 states. A total of 172 children nationwide died of Covid, the report said.
Xavier, who was in the pre-K in Utica, was very healthy, his mother said.
“He was not a sick child at all. “He had no underlying conditions,” she said. ‘I’m the one who has cancer and is diabetic. Everyone was afraid I would get it, so we wore our masks all the time and used Instacart. ‘
When Xavier did not get better and his fever rose to 104, Brooks took him to the St. Louis area on Wednesday morning. Drove to Luke’s Hospital’s emergency room in Utica. She told them about her mother testing positive for Covid, so they tested Xavier, but he was negative.
They did a chest x-ray, she said, and found two white spots on his lungs. They filed an IV because he could not maintain anything, including fluids, she said.
Brooks said she asked if he could undergo another Covid test. This time, Xavier tested positive.
At Christmas, Xavier was still in the hospital, but his fever broke and he asked for something to drink. He chatted, smiled and told the doctors he just wanted to watch his movie “Toy Story 4” and go home. Doctors said that if he continued to progress, he would be released the next day.
Brooks named her two other sons, Darell (12), and Jeremiah (10). They said they wanted to wait for their little brother on Saturday before opening presents.
On a sudden Friday, Xavier began struggling to breathe, Brooks said. Another x-ray on the chest shows that the spots on his lungs have increased. They rushed him to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse early Saturday morning.
In Upstate’s in the emergency, he was surrounded by doctors and nurses, which Brooks said was wonderful for him. Xavier was conscious, spoke and asked for him.
“He did not look so ill,” she said. “He smiled at the doctor but did not want to be touched by anyone. He told me he wanted to go home. ”
The doctors caring for Xavier let his mother hold his hand.
“Do not leave me,” his mother remembered her son saying. She assured him that she would not go anywhere before he was with her.
Suddenly, Brooks said she heard the machine stop beeping next to his bed.
“They rushed me out of the room to work on him, but I saw his face and knew he was gone,” she said. “I knew it was bad, but I was hoping they could do something to get him back.”
Xavier passed away the day after Christmas at 7:20 p.m. Brooks said she was told he had a cardiac arrest because of Covid.
The doctors let her into the room to see her son, and she sat for some time holding his hand and telling him how much she loved him.
“I love you, and I’m so sorry,” Brooks repeatedly told him.
Xavier Harris (second from left) poses for a holiday photo shoot with his mother, Chantel Brooks, and his brothers, Jeremiah (10) and Darell (12).Provide photo
Brooks, a 32-year-old single mom, sits with a giant hole in her heart and lots of questions. Why her son? Why did this happen?
According to her, Xavier is a welcome surprise, born after she had a miscarriage and was not sure she could still have children.
“I lost my miracle,” she said. “I no longer feel normal. I feel like I’m not complete. ”
On the death of Xaiver and his funeral Wednesday, Brooks said she is comforted by the support of her family, friends, colleagues from the Utica City School District, where she is a teaching assistant, and also from strangers. People sent cards, brought food and contributed to a fundraiser to pay for funeral expenses.
The obituary
More than 150 people watched the funeral on Zoom or a few people walked through the call times at the same time. It helps, but Brooks said it would not bring her son back.
Brooks and her two sons tested negative for Covid. Her mother’s only symptoms were colds and coughs. She has now recovered.
Brooks wants people to know that coronavirus disease can happen to you, young or old. No one is safe, no one can be sure they will recover.
“We followed the guidelines,” she said. ‘How can it spread so fast? To me, it’s just crazy. I do not want anyone else to experience what I have been through. ”
Elizabeth Doran covers education, suburban government and development, news and more. Do you have a hint, comment or story idea? Contact her anytime at 315-470-3012 or email [email protected]