[ad_1]
Published:
Nora, 10 years old, in study: it feels like my legs are dead
From: Malin Wigen
Published:
Since March, ten-year-old twins Nora and Molly have barely been to school.
Instead, the symptoms of the disease have replaced each other, they are now being screened for long-term covid.
– This is not a quality of life for a child, says mother Jenny Hedin.
Nora, 10, has been sick since March. She is one of the children included in a new high-profile case study of children likely to have a long-term illness in covid-19.
– Sometimes it feels like my legs are dead. So they are very heavy and I can barely touch them, says Nora.
The symptoms come in relapses, lack of sleep or exercise can trigger them: shortness of breath, fever, sore throat, headache, nausea and dizziness. Nora can’t go up without running out of breath, can’t hang out with friends, and has barely been to school.
– One good day I sit and play computer games all day, one bad day I just sit in bed.
Molly, Nora’s twin sister, who is not included in the study, is still ill. It also describes the feeling of heaviness in the body.
– Sometimes my whole body feels like concrete, then I lie on the bed and I can’t move. The feeling can appear suddenly.
He misses soccer and gymnastics.
– I used to train 10-11 hours a week. Now I can’t even train for an hour without having a headache or fever. It’s boring because I love to train.
As soon as Molly recovers, she will go back to training. Nora has another wish.
– I go to Bounce trampoline park, three times. My mother promised me.
Photo: Magnus Wennman
The twins Molly and Nora have been ill since March. Nora is part of a case study of children who are likely to have a long-term illness in covid-19.
The whole family sick
The whole family got sick at the same time, every few days, says mother Jenny Hedin. The twins had a fever, headache, sore throat, and diarrhea. Molly, however, was the least affected. When they finally had to go back to school, it was short-lived, the symptoms returned. Neither Jenny nor her eldest daughter recovered.
– When we were home for four weeks and suffered breathing difficulties, I began to realize that we never got better.
Only in June did the family have to do their own PCR test, which came back negative. They have also not tested positive for antibodies, something that was done recently. But the eldest daughter’s test showed that antibodies have been identified.
– Either you have had antibodies that are on the way back or you are on the way to getting them.
Has the health service confirmed that you have had covid-19?
– Our GP has said that it is the most likely covid-19 and that it cannot be anything else.
Photo: Magnus Wennman
Jenny, Molly and Nora in front of their house in Stockholm.
“Something is wrong”
It was also the family doctor who suggested Jonas F Ludvigsson, who is behind the study of children with chronic diseases. Now the whole family will be examined at Karolinska Hospital, where a team of doctors has been created to examine patients long-term. Jenny hopes this helps them, especially the children. They have already undergone a series of tests and examinations without being able to find what the problem is. Not even the ultrasound of Nora’s abdomen showed anything, even though she was crying herself to sleep from the pain.
– I feel that something is not right, because our children cannot be so sick without it being visible, it feels like you are taking the wrong tests. How can children be so sick that they don’t even get out of bed and it doesn’t show at all? I do not understand. We must ensure that all specialists in all areas can work together around children.
What is it like as a parent to see your children feel this way?
– Above all, you feel helpless because we cannot help them. Molly was lying and crying recently because she can’t exercise, this is not a quality of life for a child. You switch between hope and despair. This is a new virus and we don’t know what it does to our children’s bodies: What happens in five, ten years? Nobody knows.
– The only thing you can do is hope and believe that they will be healthy, even if you sometimes think the worst.
“I think the dark figure is big”
Nora and Molly are not alone. In the Facebook group “Children affected by covid-19”, parents tell about many children who never recover. Several of them feel they have not been listened to because of the attention that Jenny and her family have received.
Now there are about 170 members of the group, but Jenny fears there are more.
– I think the dark figure is big. If we are so many members after the first wave, what will it look like after the second?
Jenny and two other mothers in the group are struggling to pay attention to these children and will start executing their work through the Swedish association covid. Jenny would like more money to do research in the area, for the Swedish Public Health Agency to come out with more information, for primary care to have clearer guidelines, for the school to be better prepared.
– The situation becomes more serious when they miss a lot of school and when the school is not prepared for this scenario. I would like to see an improvement, maybe some form of distance learning for these children.
She urges others to respect the virus.
– We do not know anything about who is affected or how they can be affected, be it an adult or a child.
► ► Sign up for the Family newsletter
Aftonbladet Family has created a newsletter with offers, this week’s snacks and the best chronicles. Click here to receive this free every Tuesday!
Published:
READ ON
Subscribe to the Family newsletter
Chronicles, reader stories, and expert advice related to parenting and parenting.
Published:
