A 10-year-old boy died on Wednesday following a two-week battle with COVID-19 and complications from the virus.
Zyrin Foots, a 10-year-old boy from Texas, developed Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome (MIS-C) after contracting COVID-19. A rare condition, MIS-C causes inflammation in children’s organs, including the heart, and the inability of his heart to pump blood caused him to develop gangrene in his legs.
Gangrene makes body tissue die and can be life-threatening if left untreated, and the treatment can result in the loss of a body part as well. Ashley Engmann, Foots’ aunt, told KTRK-TV that doctors gave her sister, Foots’ mother, a choice. The choice was to amputate his arms and legs, which would give him a 25 percent chance of survival. Without the amputation, Engmann said the 10-year-old didn’t have “any chance to live.”
Foots’ mom was compelled to make the difficult decision to “let him go,” according to Engmann, as she saw it as the most “humane and compassionate thing she can do for her child.”
The 10-year-old boy was later put on life support on September 30, according to a GoFundMe page Engmann set up to help with funeral expenses.