A SECOND Thurrock parent has shared a harrowing story in a bid to raise awareness of an illness that could strike children down.

Over the weekend Thurrock Nub News told how a pupil at Stanford-le-Hope's Graham James Primary Academy faced a life-threatening stay in intensive care at Great Ormond Street Hospital after initially appearing to have overcome contracting Covid-19.

Thankfully the youngster is now recovering at the famous London hospital, but another Thurrock mum has come forward to emphasis that the drama that was played out is not that rare.

Irma Hashmi from Chafford Hundred has told how her Danial also succumbed to paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS-TS) – which is related to Covid-19.

Irma says: "I would like to raise awareness and share my story about how Covid-19 has affected my healthy and happy boy.

"In the middle of September Danial had a temperature for three days and said that the top of his left shoulder was slightly hurting. I managed this with paracetamol and didn't think too much of it. After four days the temperature returned with a mild chest pain and general weakness.

"A Covid test was negative, but I was worried as his heart rate was unusually fast. A trip to Basildon Hospital's A&E department resulted in a diagnosis of suspected tonsillitis, a clear chest X-ray, some antibiotics and I was told there was "nothing to worry about" by the doctor.

"After two further days days Danial was physically sick and felt much weaker. We made another trip to A&E, had a change of antibiotics but still told there was 'nothing to worry about'.

"By the sixth day with a temperature unusually high and a child that was no longer active and extremely weak, I once more drove him to A&E.

"Danial's eyes were blood shot, he had a severe headache and stomach ache. I asked the doctor to do a blood test and investigate further as I wanted to know what exactly was happening to my boy.

"From that point onwards everything went from "nothing to worry about" to hearing that my son is going to be administered lifesaving medication and he was soon transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital.

"My beloved only son was fighting for his life.

"He was receiving adrenaline to keep his blood pressure up , medication to suppress his immune system, four different antibiotics, steroids, aspirin , sodium, potassium and other fluids to keep his organs alive.

"His vessels were failing, fluids were leaking through into his body, he was burning with temperature and he was in an agony of pain from all the treatments. He couldn't sleep or eat, and was struggling to breathe.

"He was fighting this new disease called PIMS-TS that relates to Covid-19.

"Danial spent two weeks in ICU and another two weeks in a ward.

"Thank God he is home now and is recovering slowly, although we are not sure how long it will take and neither are the specialists. Danial's heart was affected and still is, he had to learn to walk and is not able to do many ordinary physical activities that he was able to do prior to this illness.

"Senior infectious disease specialists are learning from Danial and 200 other children that they have seen to suffer with this disease so far. But the numbers of the children admitted to hospitals all over the world is growing everyday, and although they say it's a rare disease, how rare it is if I read about new cases globally every day?

"It seems that there are many more children diagnosed with PIMS-TS then the government websites that provide data on this allows us, the public, to know. It is very concerning that there is no current data on the numbers of children identified with PIMS-TS in UK. Are they trying to avoid the public panic by not revealing the true figures, or what would the logical explanation be for it?

"Children are being admitted to the hospital every day with Covid-19 related illnesses, but today's news doesn't reflect on it at all. And even if there is an article in some local newspapers, a lots of people are disputing it as being a very rare case or fake news.

"When we went to the Basildon hospital for a routine blood test in December, a few nurses mentioned to us that they saw several children being admitted to the hospital with similar symptoms as my son and those children had to be transferred to GOSH.

"How is it then that the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health doesn't recognise the increase in children's illnesses related to Covid-19?

"Look after yourselves and your children. Stay safe."

What is PIMS/MIS-C?

Paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (or multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children in the USA) is being classed as a new illness that is 'temporarily associated' with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19 (Coronavirus).

What are the symptoms?

PIMS has similar characteristics to Kawasaki Disease; a form of vasculitis that inflames and affects blood vessels throughout the body. Kawasaki disease mainly affects children under 5 years, (although it can affect people of all ages).

PIMS is thought to be different, in that it is affecting older children and teenagers and it appears to be linked to COVID-19; most of the children either had the virus or tested positive for antibodies indicating they have had the virus. However, some children did not test positive for either.

The symptoms are wide and varying, but all the diagnosed children had a temperature for more than three days. The following symptoms have been reported in conjunction with a temperature:

• Abdominal pain, sometimes with diarrhoea and/or vomiting.
• Both eyes appearing pink or red
• Enlarged lymph node ("gland") on one side of the neck
• Persistent fever
• Red, cracked lips or red tongue that looks like a strawberry
• Rash
• Swollen hands and feet, which might also be red

How is PIMS treated?

Typical treatment includes:

Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG)

A blood thinner (aspirin/clexane etc)

Steroids