A family in Florida is saddened by the loss of an 8-year-old girl who died after showing signs of a rare but serious syndrome associated with the new coronavirus, her father said.
Deaurra Nealy, a graduate student at the Twin Lakes Academy Elementary in Jacksonville, died Sunday – just days after showing signs of the coronavirus-linked multisystem Inflammation Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), her father, Dearick Nealy, told local news tells station WJXT.
” A perfectly healthy child who just enters a normal stomach ache and a negative COVID test, ” he said. “And then her fever will not break.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), MIS-C is a condition that often causes various parts of the body to become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes or gastrointestinal organs.
Symptoms of the condition are often fever, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, neck pain, rash, bloodshot eyes and fatigue.
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At the moment, doctors do not know what exactly causes MIS-C. But many children who develop it have, according to the CDC, a virus that causes COVID-19, or that has been in someone with COVID-19.
Nealy said his daughter tested positive for coronavirus antibodies, suggesting she was infected with the virus at some point.
“She strived to be good at everything, her grades. She had all the 100s and a 95, and she thought that was not good enough. That’s the type of person she was,” he recalls. She wanted to lift people up, and she brightened the room as she walked in. I mean, she inspired so many people in such a short amount of time. I just knew she was just a perfect kid. ‘
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After the death of his daughter, Nealy encouraged others to continue to take COVID-19 seriously – especially if they have children.
“A lot of people are told that COVID-19 does not affect children. And so many people get lazy with simple sanitary measures like masks and hand sanitizer – just something simple,” he said. “It’s to help not pass it on to anyone else.”
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