Cork mam warns parents after 1-year-old son is hospitalised with Covid-related rash

"Early detection is key."

A Cork mother has taken to social media to raise awareness of a Covid-related syndrome that hospitalised her 1-year-old son. In an Instagram post, Emma Aherne said she and her husband wanted to share their experience in the hopes that other parents would recognise the symptoms their son, Jayce, displayed days after testing positive for Covid-19. Little Jayce tested positive for the virus on November 10. "He had a temperature Thursday, Friday and Saturday," the mam wrote. "Nothing out of the ordinary, very manageable and he was still eating, drinking and in very good form." Sunday, however, the little one began developing a rash on his knees. "I had a bad feeling and rang South Doc straight away only to be told it was 'normal' and 'nothing to worry about,'" Emma continued. [caption id="attachment_402207" align="alignnone" width="591"] Emma Aherne | Instagram[/caption] "I rang South Doc another 3 times that day and night and even sent pictures of the rash as it progressed and all I was given was an antihistamine which we couldn't pick up until the morning." Emma said he began burning up and his temperature soon became hard to control. "Jayce was so uncomfortable all night, he didn't sleep at all," she said, adding that she and her husband took turns holding him on their laps as "any movement was causing discomfort and pain." The next morning someone dropped over the antihistamine to them, but the boy immediately threw it back up. "That's when I knew he'd be going to the hospital," Emma said. As the rash continued to spread throughout his body, his mam feared Jayce was showing signs of a condition she had read about 6 months prior known as Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome. [caption id="attachment_402226" align="alignnone" width="561"] Emma Aherne | Instagram[/caption] "I had read about the signs – rash and a high temperature being two of them – and had read it was happening more and more to children after a Covid-19 diagnosis. "The doctors office were on the ball and got us a letter straight away for A&E. Jayce was diagnosed with PIMS, which is Paediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome – what I had feared from the onset of symptoms," she revealed.

Her "little warrior" spent the next five nights in Cork University Hospital. On his last day, he took his very first steps, making his discharge even more special.

While Jayce is now doing much better at home, his mam says he'll have to take medication and get heart checks for the next while.

"I want Mothers to know that if their gut is telling them there's something not right then to go with it," Emma said.

"And I want parents to be aware of PIMS in case god forbid something like this happens to them. Early detection is key, don't delay and ask for the hospital straight away if your child is presenting with these symptoms post-Covid."