Jack McMorrow was hospitalized with heart failure and was diagnosed with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome, which is associated with COVID-19, found mostly in children. The condition causes inflammation throughout the body and also affects the heart. The 14-year-old described the pain as a "throbbing, stinging rush." He also had tennis-ball size lymph node, raging fever, fast heartbeat, and extremely low blood pressure.
In mid-April, Jack had reddish rashes on his hands, with glossy eyes, and stomachache. He felt increasingly unwell for the next ten days, so his parents scheduled him to a weekend urgent care clinic. One morning, he woke up being unable to move.
No one knows how Jack McMorrow got COVID-19
On March 18, Jack cleaned out his locker and continued online schooling at home and left the apartment only once, so he and his parents, John McMorrow and Doris Stroman, are not sure how he got infected with COVID-19. His parents and sister tested negative for the virus.
One month after his last visit to the school, Jack developed a 102-degree fever and sore throat, so he was prescribed with antibiotics by his pediatrician to rule out any bacterial infection. Several days after, he still felt the same but with the added symptoms such as a swollen neck, nausea, dry cough, and a metallic taste.
On April 25, his fever reached up to 104.7 degrees, and he also had a tight chest. When he took breaths, he said that it "hurt down in the bottom." Doctor Camelia Ganea prescribed him steroids and suggested that he urgently visit a care clinic where he was tested for coronavirus.
Two days later, Jack had a rosy rash covering his feet and could not move as he grasped for words to say. His dad saw that he had low blood pressure, so they brought him to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital. Doctors gave him intravenous fluids, and they got the results from Saturday's test that says Jack was negative of the coronavirus.
Doctors suspected that Jack might have mononucleosis, so they plan to discharge him; however, when his mom saw that he had pinkeye, they ran another test, which showed that he was positive. He was then sent to the children's hospital.
Jack McMorrow had a cariogenic shock
When he arrived at the hospital, Jack had a high fever, twice his regular heart rate, and alarming low blood pressure. Dr. Steven Kernie said he was experiencing cardiogenic shock, which means that his heart was not working very well and was pumping more vigorously than normal. They also suspected that Jack's heart was inflamed, which could cause lasting damage if left untreated.
The blood pressure medication was not helping even after three days of treatment. Then doctors prescribed Jack steroids, which seemed to work. After a few hours, Jack got his normal blood pressure back. Doctors were not sure if steroids were effective, but since then, steroids were what they administer to children who experienced the same symptoms.
Jack's heart rate was still low after being transferred to a regular room. The steroids could have caused it, according to his doctors. Since they were not sure, the doctors placed Jack under continual cardiac monitoring, and he recovered over the next week.
Ten days after his hospitalization, Jack was discharged, and he and his family will be taken as part of further research into the syndrome. Jack thought about studying medicine specializing in heart diseases before he got sick, and now, he became even more interested in it.
