As school gets out, and summer draws near, there’s no doubt that kids and parents alike will be spending a lot more time outdoors.
With the swimming pool opening next weekend, and hot-weather-temps starting to skyrocket, one mom from eastern Oregon has a serious warning for parents everywhere.
Amanda Lewis shared a video on Facebook of her daughter Evelyn “acting a little weird” around bedtime. It wasn’t the usual stalling before bed.
“She didn’t want to stand up after her bath to get into her pajamas. I helped her and got her in bed. She was a little fussy last night and I ended up sleeping in bed with her all night.”
Amanda continues:
“This morning she was having a hard time standing. She could barely walk, or crawl, and could hardly use her arms.”
The concerned parents captured a video that’s now been viewed almost 20 million times, which shows Lantz, Evelyn’s dad, coaching her through trying to stand up.
Her legs are visibly weak, and when she did rise to her feet, her legs immediately gave out from beneath her.
We had a little bit of a scary morning today…luckily everything is ok but I wanted to share this so the rest of you are aware.
Evelyn started acting a little weird last night around bed time. She didn’t want to stand up after her bath to get into her pajamas. I helped her and got her in bed. She was a little fussy last night and I ended up sleeping in bed with her all night.
This morning she was having a hard time standing. She could barely walk, or crawl, and could hardly use her arms. We took some video this morninh to send to family to see if they had any idea what could be going on. We decided to take her into the ER right after we took this video because her symptoms were getting worse, and given Lantz’s history with cancer we were quite concerned.
We got into a room quickly, thank God, and were seen almost right away. The doctor talked to us for a minute and said over the past 15 years he had seen about 7 or 8 children her age with identical symptoms and more than likely she had a tick. They looked her over, combed through her hair really well and sure enough found a tick hiding in her hair.
This condition is called tick paralysis. It can affect dogs also and can be fatal. I’m glad we took her in when we did and that it wasn’t something worse and that we found it before it got worse.
The ticks are out like crazy right now in this area so if your children or dogs start acting a little off, check them thoroughly for ticks!
I feel awful for not having seen the little bugger sooner but I never would have even thought to look for a tick. It’s crazy that a little bug can do this!
We’re still in the ER. Now that the tick has been removed, Evelyn should start feeling like herself in a couple of hours. She’s enjoying popsicles and watching cartoons ☺ They want to monitor her for a little longer then we can go home
Crazy morning
UPDATE: I didn’t realize how widespread this video would end up! So for those of you who don’t know us personally, Evelyn is doing much better. It took her until the next morning to start acting like herself again. She is now pretty much completely back to her feisty little self. She complains a lot about her head itching but otherwise she’s just fine.