KYA nine-year-old boy has died a week after coming down with a cold caused by the adenovirus.
Tristan Michael O. Ang, who was a black belt in Taekwondo, died as a result of a particularly aggressive strain of the adenovirus virus which had caused 11 child deaths in America so far this year.
His family are now warning that the signs of the adenovirus are so subtle that even Tristan’s parents, both of whom work as nurses, didn’t realize how ill their son was.
KTVUThe adenovirus virus is usually only deadly to kids with weakened immune systems but Tristan was perfectly healthy having only just competed in a national Taekwondo competition.
According to his parents, Belle and Mark, he was unusually tired and weak after the competition but they figured he was just exhausted from Taekwondo.
His symptoms slowly worsened though and he suffered from a fever, headache and nausea. Thinking nothing of it they attempted to treat ‘the cold’ with Tylenol, an over the counter cold medication, but it didn’t help relieve his symptoms.
KTVUMark told Fox News:
We are just thinking (he was) too tired, a little bit dehydrated. We’d been giving him Tylenol and Motrin. It would go away but not totally, and it would come back.
When he failed to recover they took him to hospital but doctors sent him home claiming he was just dehydrated. Unfortunately, the doctors were wrong and Tristan took a turn for the worse becoming so confused and disorientated he could reportedly barely remember his own name.
Tristan was then admitted to an intensive care unit as he had swelling on the brain. Doctors tested him for meningitis but the results came back negative.
KTVIt was then doctors told his family they believed Tristan was having rare complications from adenovirus, which typically causes a sore throat, congestion, coughing and fever.
Unfortunately, the swelling in his brain failed to subside and the Daily Mail reports his heart stopped four times before doctors told his parents he was dying.
Mark told NBC:
After the fourth go, that’s when the doctor told Belle and I that he’s dying. As a nurse, I know. But as a dad, I don’t want to believe it.
Go Fund MeBelle is now warning parents to keep an eye out for the symptoms because ‘it could happen to any kid’, adding that even the healthiest kid ‘could die or get the virus fast’.
Mark meanwhile paid tribute to his late son, saying: ‘I guess God needs a warrior up there’.
A GoFundMe has been set up for the family to help pay for funeral expenses.
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More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.