The family of a seven-year-old Tennessee girl spoke out after her death less than 72 hours after testing positive for covid-19. “The virus took her fast,” the family says.
Seven-year-old girl dies three days after covid-19 diagnosis
“She was a happy, healthy, normal, beautiful soul,” Jennifer Graviss told Good Morning America about her daughter, Adalyn. “She was a very sweet, amazing little girl.”
The Knoxville girl began feeling ill on Feb. 4, the family says, but the virus took her quickly.
“It was around 9 o’clock when we noticed she could barely talk, although she was still responding to us,” said the girl’s father, Adam Graviss. “By 10 o’clock, I was in the emergency room with her, and she was unresponsive at that point.”
He continued, “It was very quick. Hours before we went to the hospital, she was running in the front yard.”
They transferred Adalyn to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville, but even the best care at the renowned facility couldn’t save her.
“Even as it was happening, it didn’t seem real,” Graviss told Good Morning America . “Her levels were getting better and then it got worse.”
According to a GoFundMe set up for the family, the seven-year-old “got her angel wings . after a brief and courageous battle with covid that triggered ADEM, an autoimmune response, and defeated her tiny body.”
Dr. Isaac Thomsen, who helped care for Adalyn at Vandebilt, told GMA that she presented with covid-19-related ADEM and severe myocarditis simultaneously.
“The combination is probably what ultimately cost her life,” Dr. Thomsen commented. “It’s quite rare among viruses, this ability of covid to hit both [the heart and brain] at the same time.”
- Facebook Messenger