#Missouri boy had stroke after COVID diagnosis: doctors

A 3-year-old Missouri boy who’d been diagnosed with the coronavirus was partially paralyzed after suffering a stroke — and yet will likely make a complete recovery, a local report said.

Little Colt Parris lost the ability to move his right arm and leg on Wednesday, hours after he tested positive for COVID-19 at the University of Missouri’s Women’s and Children’s Hospital, NBC affiliate KSN-TV reported.

“I went to hand him his Boo (stuffed animal) and I noticed that he didn’t use his dominant arm to grab it,” his mom, Sara Parris, told the station.

“I knew something else wasn’t right.”

Doctors ran tests and found a blockage in the toddler’s brain.

“The result came back and I looked at it and it was a clear stroke,” that cut off blood to the left side of the boy’s brain, said pediatric neurologist Dr. Paul Carney.

In 20 years of practicing medicine, Carney said he had never seen a case like this one.

“What was different here was a child and as I mention, there’s really no other case like this,” he told the outlet.

The tot required surgery to address the clot and was recuperating Thursday at the hospital in Columbia, Mo.

He should make a full recovery and may be able to go home next week.

Dr. Camilo Gomez, a neurologist at the hospital, said docs were looking into the extent of a link between COVID-19 and possible neurological problems.

“The COVID diagnosis is important because we think the reason why (patients) with COVID, including the child, have strokes and a variety of other problems is that they have propensity to form clots,” Gomez told the outlet.

The boy’s parents said they were grateful to his caretakers and hoped their close call would increase awareness about taking precautions to curb the virus’ spread.

“Masks and stuff like that, people need to wear them,” dad Tim Parris said.

“It’s important. If you don’t want your children going through this, people need to be more aware.”