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A worried mum has warned of the potential serious risks of Covid-19 in children after her infant son ended up in intensive care with a rare illness caused by the virus.
Five-year-old Marley Hanley, from Gravesend, was sent home from school after complaining of a temperature which reached as high as 40°C.
KMTV talks to Tracey Hanley whose son was diagnosed with PIMs, a rare Covid-linked illness
Parents Tracey and Robert, who live in Cruden Road, booked their son a doctor's appointment and were advised to monitor his condition.
The next morning Marley awoke with a huge swelling to the lymph nodes in his neck and painful stomach cramps, likened to tonsillitis and appendicitis symptoms.
"His temperature was flying off the roof. He was crippled over with abdominal pain," said mum Tracey.
"Before that when he was at school he was absolutely fine, playing and everything."
After his condition deteriorated the couple rang 111 who advised to take Marley straight to A&E at Darent Valley in Dartford.
But within days of his arrival at the hospital the Westcourt Primary pupil went from laughing about teddies on his blood test plaster to his heart struggling to pump blood around his body.
There was confusion as to what was wrong and a few days later Marley was blue lighted to Evelina Children's Hospital in London and put in intensive care.
It was here he was eventually diagnosed with Paediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome (PIMS), caused by Covid in children.
PIMS is a very rare and long-term Covid effect seen in less than 0.5 per cent of children who have had the virus.
The condition causes swelling throughout the body which is one way your immune system fights off infection, injury and disease.
Mum Tracey said: "In this Covid-obsessed world you would never imagine your child being affected to the point where you believed there was a possibility you may lose them.
"We are constantly told our children are not really at risk and unfortunately this is what we believe."
Doctors told Marley's parents - who have one other son Jimi, four, and daughter Rosalie, two - it is likely that he had contracted the virus four to five weeks earlier.
This week, the five-year-old came out of intensive care and is expected to make a full recovery.
Now mum Tracey is hoping to raise awareness of PIMS in the hope that other parents can spot the signs sooner.
"I want to make people aware how serious this actually is," the 31-year-old said. "We have not had a vaccine as we are not in the right age group."
She added: "It would have really helped if we had known about it [PIMS]. Even if it helps just one parent who does not know about it."
"I want to make people aware how serious this actually is..."
And while the condition is rare, the mum-of-three says it is important people do not get complacent as lockdown restrictions are eased.
She is encouraging parents to continue to follow the guidelines and use hand sanitizer regularly.
As PIMS is a new condition, it is not yet known why some children and young people develop the illness after Covid while others do not.
Research is being undertaken by Great Ormond Street and the Evelina Hospital, which treated Marley, to better understand the condition so it can be more readily diagnosed and treated.
When you have an infectious illness like PIMS, your body makes "antibodies" to protect you from it recurring.
But the long-term implications of the post Covid-19 effect are not yet fully understood.
It means Marley will be on anti-clotting medicine for the forseeable future and will require regular check-ups.
"He will be on aspirin to thin the blood where his heart has been working that bit harder and will need to go to the clinic to be monitored on a regular basis," said mum Tracey.
She added: "He's got a long road to recovery ahead of him and nobody knows what long-term effects it may have on his little body.
"We have to take one day at a time and we know our little fighter will beat this and come home smiling soon."
