If you have children, you realize that they can come down was some rather strange illnesses from time to time. Perhaps that is why a family from Idaho didn’t think much about a strange mark that ended up on their sons, Coop’s face. After a while, it continued to get worse and it ended up being something that they never would’ve expected. Today, they are going to social media so that other parents know about the situation and can identify it if it happens to their children.
When you hear the word strep, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? More than likely, you think about strep throat, which is a relatively common problem. What you may not realize, however, is the strep bacteria actually comes in about 20 different types and it doesn’t always affect the throat. In the case of Coop, it ended up affecting his sinuses and went undetected for quite some time.
When the cold and flu season comes around, it is fairly normal for somebody to end up with a strep infection. Arden and Ashlee Hawley also had their fair share of problems in their family but they came to realize that it was necessary to watch out for strep in more areas than the throat. It started when the mark showed up on his face.
“We thought was compliments of his little brother,” Arden said. The problem is, the mark continued to get worse so they ended up going to a physician.
The doctor saw the child and gave him a steroid but the rash only got worse and ended up stretching across his entire face. His parents thought they should take their son to the emergency room and the doctors discovered that it was a strep infection.
“It could have been really bad had we not come in,” Arden shared on social media. “They told us it will continue to migrate through there eyes and into their brain if not treated.”
Coop is recovering at home and getting better. Arden wanted other parents to know about the potential problem so she posted information on social media.
“Please take this and show as far and wide as you can,” he wrote, “It may save someone’s babies.”
Since Arden posted the warning, it has been shared more than a million times. By being passed around in such a fashion, it helps other parents to be aware of the problem.
Another mother also shared her experience after seeing the original viral post about strep bacteria in the sinuses.
Everybody in that house was sick with the flu so when her youngest child caught a fever, she thought that he was also dealing with the flu. That is when the red marks started appearing.
She continued to blame the fever at first but as the redness progressed, she remembered seeing the post on social media. Her son was taken to the doctor and he tested positive for the flu and strep throat.
“The [doctor] said that a rash and the facial marks are common symptoms. I had NO idea and apparently, neither does anyone I’ve told over the past few days,” the mom wrote. Like Arden, she decided to get the word out, saying, “So I feel obligated to let other parents know about these unknown indicators that your child is suffering from strep.”
Candace Reeves McMahan is also sounding the warning. This mother, from Oklahoma has a son that also had difficulties with strep.
Luke, her son, suffered from the flu and strep combination. Luke eyes started getting red in school and she was worried enough to take him to the hospital. Luke ended up having emergency surgery before things improved.
“Because it was in his eyes it was very close to the brain,” Candace wrote, “which is super scary!!!”
Luke is also doing well after the surgery. There will be some scars that linger but otherwise everything is fine.
“He almost looks normal and is almost back to his normal self! I believe in the power of prayer and I can’t thank everyone enough for that,” Candace said. Candace also felt it was a good idea to share her experience on social media.
“Please share the pictures of Luke’s eyes. This may have been prevented if the diagnosis had been done earlier.”
Emerson is a three-year-old girl and the daughter of Jennifer Schmidt. She had strep throat but she also had a reaction that her mother felt was important to share.
After Emerson was diagnosed with strep throat, she took her medicine and everything seemed to be fine.
It was a week later that bruising began to appear on her legs. The parents thought that it was just a typical bruise but it kept getting worse, and more started appearing.
“She had bruises all up and down her legs, on her back, lower back and they weren’t normal — these were raised and had lumps in the middle of the bruising,” Jennifer explained.
It was never fully diagnosed but the doctors thought that it was a condition where her blood vessels were leaking. That condition, known as Henoch-Schlein Purpura can be serious. Thankfully, Emerson is improving. Her mother thought it was good to share her experience on Facebook.
“I just wanted to put a PSA out there that even after having strep and taking all the medicine that strep can really wreak havoc on our bodies and cause some other very serious illnesses,” she says. “So watch your little ones. I never knew strep could do all this, so I just wanted to inform others how bad and dangerous strep can be, even after medicine.”
By sharing things on Facebook and through other social media outlets, you give other parents the opportunity to learn the potential problems that could harm their children and to take action.
