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Boy hospitalized, intubated for mysterious illness during family trip to Disney World
A family trip to Disney became a medical nightmare for one family from Ohio.
ORLANDO, Fla. - A family trip to Disney became a medical nightmare for one family from Ohio.
"The second day that we had planned, he actually didn’t make it because that’s the day he got hospitalized," Vanessa Baker said.
Baker’s 12-year-old son, Kameron, has been on a vent for three weeks at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando. His lung collapsed since he’s been there and his mom says doctors don’t even know why.
Vanessa says she took Kameron to Disney and Gatorland and then he developed a cough.
"The next morning he still had that croupy cough, kept crying that his throat hurt and that’s when I took him to the ER," Baker said.
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Kameron has autism, asthma and developmental delays. He tested positive for the flu and negative for COVID, but he did have COVID antibodies.
Kameron’s mom says doctors wonder if he had an asymptomatic case at some point and is now suffering from Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome, but it’s hard to know for sure.
"They can’t diagnose him with that specifically because he doesn’t have all of the symptoms," Vanessa said.
For now, doctors are treating him for ARDS, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. Vanessa’s son is unresponsive. She and her husband have been by his bedside the whole time and her two other kids are back home now in Ohio.
"Some days are harder than others," she said.
She hopes he'll be discharged by Thanksgiving. She says doctors are starting to wean Kameron off sedation.
Vanessa has advice for parents.
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"I honestly thought it was strep throat, so even if you think they are having a cold, they should at least go to the doctor and make sure that there’s nothing else underlying."
She said she hates to think what could have been if she downplayed her son’s cough.
"I just have to take it day by day and have patience," she said.
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