LONG COVID leaves a healthy 12-year-old boy in a wheelchair – along with crippling pain, fatigue and FOUR YEARS of migraines

A seventh grader has shared his hellish battle with long Covid – which has left him wheelchair-bound and on dozens of medications.

Theo Huot de Saint-Albin, from Atlanta, Georgia, was 12 and otherwise perfectly healthy when he got the virus for the first time in July 2020.

His symptoms, which quickly became debilitating, came ‘right after’ his first Covid infection and his symptoms have not improved much since then.

He said he has suffered from constant migraines for four years, fatigue so bad he has trouble leaving the couch, and pain so bad he has been confined to a wheelchair at times.

Theo told Good Morning America: ‘Sometimes it’s hard to get people to believe in you too because they can empathize with something they know is there. “Oh, you have a broken leg, I can see that. Wow, you can’t go. It must be tough.” But does your head hurt? “I don’t see a big bump on your head. I don’t see bandages wrapped around it.”

Theo and his mother were relieved to finally get his diagnosis, which was initially said to be Lyme disease

He added: ‘For me, I have chronic migraines … that doesn’t mean the migraines are terrible every day. It is very unpredictable. It goes in waves. But there always is. It never leaves.

Theo contracted Covid three more times, but his long Covid symptoms were worse than the infections themselves.

Long Covid has affected between 18 and 23 million Americans, some of whom have experienced the symptoms of long Covid, including brain fog and fatigue, years after contracting the virus.

Covid infections are rarely serious in children, and for a long time Covid in this population has not been seen nearly as often as it has been in adults.

Theo and his mother Meredith Eubanks said they couldn’t even remember how many doctors they saw looking for answers over the past four years. They were repeatedly told by doctors that it was not a case of Long Covid, which is relatively rare in children.

Theo and his mother traveled 600 miles to Baltimore to meet with pediatric psychologist Dr. Laura Malone, according to Good Morning America.

Dr. Malone had established the Pediatric Post-COVID-19 Rehabilitation Clinic at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, a child-focused healthcare organization affiliated with Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Mrs Eubanks said: ‘They were the first place we came to where they were like, ‘Here’s a list of symptoms and did you have any pre-COVID and what did you have post-COVID?’

‘I just remember it being such a relief. It was like, ‘Oh, you know, they recognize this and it’s official and Theo’s not alone.’

Theo was misdiagnosed with Lyme disease, the symptoms of which can resemble long Covid. It took about two years for Theo to get the correct diagnosis in 2022.

Theo said that some days he can only go to school for half a day and some days he can’t move beyond the couch: ‘There’s no real way to say how I’m going to feel.

He also suffers from symptoms such as muscle pain, extreme fatigue and brain fog, which have left him wheelchair-bound at times.

Theo struggled at school and often needed to take half days or stay home all day

Besides having a four-year migraine, Theo often couldn’t leave the couch, he was so tired

Dr. Laura Malone (shown) established the Pediatric Post-COVID-19 Rehabilitation Clinic at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, a child-focused healthcare organization affiliated with Johns Hopkins Medicine

Theo was also diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, or POTS, which is triggered when a person stands up and the heart rate increases, causing dizziness, fainting and a rapid heartbeat, which is relieved by lying down again.

Long Covid is a constellation of symptoms that appear weeks and can last years after infection. The exact cause is not fully understood, but it is believed to be due to persistent inflammation, immune disturbances, organ damage and possible reactivation of the virus in the body.

Dr. Malone said: ‘Most children can have a relatively mild infection and then go on to develop long-term sequelae. So it took some time to recognize and for patients to seek care, both from their primary doctors and then also from clinics like us.’

“We see that there can be a lot of resilience in children, and despite the fact that sometimes they may have the symptoms, they may not always bring it up to family members or doctors, but just try to deal with the symptoms and it’s only , when it becomes intolerable that it will sometimes give rise to more medical treatment.’

There is no diagnostic test for long Covid, and doctors can typically only treat the symptoms with medication, physiotherapy and counselling.

The primary goal is to restore a child’s ability to attend school and maintain friendships.

Dr. Malone said: “One of our big focuses is trying to provide accommodation to get the kids back into school but meeting them where they are because they might not be able to complete a full course load or they might not be able to make it through the school day.

“But there’s still an advantage if they can go for an hour and gradually increase it over time to get them back into that kind of routine and get them back into the social aspects of school and the educational aspects.”

The condition, which can lead to depression and anxiety, can worsen pre-existing mental illness.

Dr. Ellen Henning, a pediatric psychologist at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, said, “We’re constantly learning new things, and we’re adapting as we go.

‘We try to provide the best support we can, and then we all integrate new knowledge and adjust things as we need.’