As the coronavirus pandemic spreads throughout the world, countless gut-wrenching stories have emerged of families battling the virus. Some of the most difficult to hear are those which involve children.
And Dr. Anna Zimmermann, a neonatologist in Denver, Colorado, just added her son’s story to that list.
The moment a helpless mother watched her son battle with Coronavirus was captured on a video footage shared by CBS news and it is no doubt that the video clip is a very sad one to watch.
Dr. Anna Zimmerman – a neonatologist in Denver, Colorado – took her four-year-old son Lincoln to the hospital on March 30 after he had high fever and cough.
The mother-of-three, a neonatologist specializing in the treatment of premature and sick newborn infants, said,
“He just keeps getting worse. So as a doctor, I could see those medical things happening. And as a mom, it’s just gut-wrenching, right? As a parent, I was just focused on trying to stay calm while he was having a coughing spasm.”
Her son, as she described in medical terms, had retractions – when the muscles between the ribs move.
Zimmerman and her husband kept a close eye on the spread of Coronavirus in Italy and China – and took their children out of their extracurricular activities just days before Colorado schools closed.
“At the time of admission, he needed 2 Liters (L) of oxygen. That same night, he progressed up to needing 4L. By the next day, he was on 6L and then 9L,” Zimmermann wrote. “He was working so hard to breathe – using all of the muscles in his chest, abdomen, and neck to help him breathe. As a doctor, I knew he was working hard to breathe. The medical terms used to describe respiratory distress – seesaw breathing, nasal flaring, grunting, retracting, tachypneic – he had them all. As a mom, it was torture watching him struggle.”
The mother-of-three, a neonatologist specializing in the treatment of premature and sick newborn infants, said,
“He just keeps getting worse. So as a doctor, I could see those medical things happening. And as a mom, it’s just gut-wrenching, right? As a parent, I was just focused on trying to stay calm while he was having a coughing spasm.”
Her son, as she described in medical terms, had retractions – when the muscles between the ribs move.
Zimmerman and her husband kept a close eye on the spread of Coronavirus in Italy and China – and took their children out of their extracurricular activities just days before Colorado schools closed.
“At the time of admission, he needed 2 Liters (L) of oxygen. That same night, he progressed up to needing 4L. By the next day, he was on 6L and then 9L,” Zimmermann wrote. “He was working so hard to breathe – using all of the muscles in his chest, abdomen, and neck to help him breathe. As a doctor, I knew he was working hard to breathe. The medical terms used to describe respiratory distress – seesaw breathing, nasal flaring, grunting, retracting, tachypneic – he had them all. As a mom, it was torture watching him struggle.”
Gracefully, Lincoln has now recovered from the virus and is back with his family.
Watch a video of the lad fighting for his life below
