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Seventeen-year-old Zechariah Arredondo of Lubbock has survived MIS-C, a rare sickness found in children under 18 around two weeks after they contract COVID-19.

KAMC News reports that Zechariah's whole family tested positive for COVID-19 back in August. The family was cleared of all symptoms after around two weeks.

However, around a month later, Zechariah got severely ill, vomiting with constant diarrhea and a fever of 103 degrees. He said he knew "knew something really wasn’t right."

Zechariah was taken to University Medical Center on October 2nd as his condition grew worse.

The teenager said:

I  was laying there and it felt like I was falling [...] At one point, I thought I was dead.

He began to suffer heart failure and was placed in the intensive care unit.

Doctors discovered that he was suffering from Multi Inflammatory Syndrome, also known as MIS-C. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that MIS-C is a rare sickness found in children after they contract COVID-19.

From the CDC:

Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is a condition where different body parts can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs. Children with MIS-C may have a fever and various symptoms, including abdominal (gut) pain, vomiting, diarrhea, neck pain, rash, bloodshot eyes, or feeling extra tired.

The organization says it's unclear what exactly causes the illness, but that it can occur if a child has contracted COVID-19 or is around someone else that has it.

It's said that every one of Zechariah's organs had inflammation. All of them were enlarged, so his heart stopped, not being able to pump correctly.

Zechariah's MIS-C case was the first case discovered in the South Plains.

After being in intensive care, Zechariah survived and has since returned to virtual learning.

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