Her 19-year-old son William ‘Ikaika’ Bailey has been fighting for his life after contracting the coronavirus twice.
“It’s the worst nightmare of a parent. Just seeing how their child suffers from it and is not really able to do everything,” Cady says. “He looked just as weak and I was just scared to lose my son.”
It is a diagnosis that almost leads to heart failure.
“There was a point where I actually thought I was going to lose him,” Cady says.
Cady says her son looks like a healthy young adult. He graduated from Golden Valley High School last year. There he was the reserve quarterback and scored the title of the returning king.
It was mid-June when Ikaika first became ill.
At first Cady thought it was just allergies.
Then came the high fever followed by a hospital visit and a COVID-positive test.
“He would shake and it would be hot and then he would get hot when it was cold and then the fever and the cough. It was terrible,” Cady says.
After 14 days, he was removed. But weeks passed and Cady said her son was not his normal self.
A visit from a doctor revealed he had lost 20 pounds. Hours later, his feet began to swell.
That was when Cady drove him to the hospital.
“They explained to me that this was a sign of heart failure,” Cady says.
He again tested positive for coronavirus.
Even more alarmingly, doctors discovered a hole in his heart and two heart valves on the verge of failure. According to doctors, the hole was already there and COVID made it worse.
They had to perform surgery immediately.
The confidence of Cady and the medical staff kept her strong.
Ikaika must now take blood thinner for the rest of his life. He still has a long way to go before recovery, but Cady says her son is a testament to his name.
Ikaika means ‘strong’ in Hawaii.
If you want to help the family with costs, you can do so on their GoFundMe site.
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