A 4-year-old girl from New Mexico is paralyzed after being diagnosed with a spinal condition due to COVID-19, which left her in the hospital for eight months.
Stella Martin was rushed to San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington, New Mexico in April 2020, after running to her mother, Cassandra Yazzie, who was complaining of back pain, KOAT reported.
Yazzie told the station that her daughter suddenly went “limp” in her arms.
Stella was quickly airlifted to UNM Hospital in Albuquerque, where she was diagnosed with COVID-19 and then with acute transverse myelitis, her mother said.
The disease is classified as an acute inflammation of gray and white matter in one or more adjacent spinal cord segments, according to the Merck Manual.
UNMH doctors said this was the first coronavirus-related case of acute transverse myelitis in a child they had seen in the hospital.
Dr. Barry Ramo told KOAT that COVID-19 is known for causing a hyperimmune response in children and that it could be responsible for the inflammation in Stella’s spinal cord.
Stella spent five months at UNM and another three months at Carrie Tingley Hospital, KOAT reported.
On Monday she received a round of applause from the medical staff when she was finally able to go home.
“I am so grateful to the UNM staff, the doctors, the supervisors, the nurses. They have done a lot for Stella. We owe them all, ”Yazzie told KOAT.
‘Every person there, she tells them she loves them, she checks the staff. When they came in she asked, “Are you all right?” She calls them all her friends, ”she added.
Tragically, her father died of COVID-19 while the girl was in hospital, the paper said.
“I miss my dad,” Stella said to KOAT.
Her mother said doctors told her Stella was unlikely to recover, but noted that her mobility has already improved and she can move her arms a little.
“I just want everyone to stay safe and not take COVID lightly because it affects my daughter in a big way,” Yazzie told KOAT.