12-Year-Old Boy Who Was Hospitalized With COVID-19 In Alabama Couldn’t Breathe

When a healthy 12-year-old boy weighing 120 pounds tested positive for coronavirus and ended up in a hospital in Alabama struggling to breathe, his family were left heartbroken.

For Brody Barnett's family, it was an unforgettable experience. The boy from Chilton County told ABC3340 News, "Seeing all the kids on ventilators walking down the hallway was pretty scary." For him, the toughest part was trying to breathe as his chest was hurting.

His mother Gerilynn Vowell recalled, "You are on the COVID wing and you look in the glass doors and see all the kids struggling to breathe and everyone in hazmat suits."

Medical professionals surprisingly said that they couldn't do much for the child. They could only suggest Tylenol and ibuprofen for his cough and pneumonia. Hearing their response, Vowell thought that she couldn't leave her son in that condition. She said that she needed help. A doctor told her that there's nothing they can do prior to putting him on a ventilator if it was required.

She never thought her child would get so ill. She said that for a big healthy boy to cry and say "I can't breathe" is the "scariest part." His illness came as a shock to his family, especially because he is a strong athlete who plays lots of sports, and enjoys hunting as well as fishing. Barnett described the experience as "nothing to joke with."

The boy's parents had COVID earlier this year. They carry the antibodies and haven't been vaccinated. Vowell admitted that they didn't take the threat of the Delta variant too seriously, but that night at the hospital was "eye opening" for them. She said that her son's symptoms were much worse than theirs. Now they are wondering how long it will take for his lungs to completely heal.

Medical experts have advised people to get vaccinated even if they have been exposed to coronavirus as the vaccines are known to provide more durable protection. According to a study, published earlier this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), individuals who were not vaccinated were more than twice as likely to be again infected compared those who were vaccinated.

By Wednesday, there were 12 kids at Children's of Alabama in Birmingham hospitalized with COVID. Dr. David Kimberlin warned saying that people will end up in a place they have not seen with a virus so transmissible that it will make 2020 look "pretty tame."

As per the Children’s Hospital Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, almost 94,000 kids were infected in the week ending Aug. 5.