A 4-year-old little girl is finally going home after eight months in the hospital with COVID-19 and Acute Transverse Myelitis, an illness that left her paralyzed.
Stella Martin’s mother, Cassandra Yazzie says it all started last April when her daughter complained of pain in her back, and then “went limp" in her arms. She rushed her to the hospital where she was airlifted to the University New Mexico in Albuquerque.
Once there, doctors told Yazzie that Stella’s was the first COVID-related case of Acute Transverse Myelitisa they’d seen in a child. The disease is classified as an acute inflammation of gray and white matter in one or more adjacent spinal cord segments.
Stella spent five months at UNM in the pediatric ICU. From there she was at Carrie Tingley Hospital for another three months.
“I am so grateful for the staff at UNM, the doctors, the chiefs, the nurses. They’ve done a lot for Stella. We thank them all,” Yazzie tells KOAT in New Mexico.
Sadly, while she was hospitalized her father died from COVID-19.
"I miss my daddy," Stella told KOAT.
COVID-19 is known for causing a hyper immune response in children, which could be to blame for the inflammation in Stella’s spinal cord, Dr. Barry Ramo tells KOAT.
Although Stella has improved and as is able to move her arms a little, Yazzie says doctors told her that it was not likely Stella would fully recover.
“I just want everybody to stay safe, to not take COVID lightly, because it is affecting my daughter in a big way,” Yazzie said.
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