RAYMOND — It’s a "wait and see" situation for a 13-year-old MACCRAY student and his family as he receives care in the pediatric intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis.
Hudson Asche, a seventh-grader at MACCRAY, is being treated for what can be life-threatening symptoms from a rare complication of COVID-19. It is known as MIS-C, or multisystem inflammatory syndrome. It has inflamed his internal organs.
His parents, Dana and Joel Asche, are at his side and report that he has made progress since his arrival Sunday at Children’s Hospital. He is sleeping a lot, and on medications and steroids to reduce the inflammation.
“It’s been a journey, that’s for sure,” said Hudson’s mother, Dana, by telephone as she took a short break from being at his side Thursday. The family has started a CaringBridge site to keep friends and family updated on his condition.
Hudson first showed signs of illness on Oct. 26, which was two weeks after his family had quarantined him due to possible exposure to COVID-19. His oldest brother, William, 17, is a football player for MACCRAY, and a player had tested positive for the virus.
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Hudson and other family members showed no symptoms of COVID-19. On Oct. 26, Hudson developed a fever and said he was not feeling well. The family isolated him to his room. The next day his fever rose to 103. His fever began ranging from 103 to 105 and on Oct. 28 he had a COVID-19 test.
His symptoms progressed to include severe body aches, joint pain and swollen lymph nodes. He was taken to urgent care Friday, and tested for strep throat and influenza. The medical staff suspected he had mono and he was placed on prednisone and nausea medicines and returned home, his mother reported on the CaringBridge site.
Hudson began experiencing night sweats and grew increasingly weak: He was to the point where he could no longer walk Saturday without the assistance of his parents. That night the phone call came informing the family that he had tested positive for COVID-19.
By Sunday morning, he was blacking out and no longer able to walk. When they reached the emergency room in Willmar, Dana said her son’s blood pressure had already dropped to 73 over 35 and he was experiencing kidney and liver failure.
Due to the positive COVID test result, neither parent was able to ride in the ambulance with Hudson to Children’s Hospital. Dana, a trained emergency medical technician, said she was not prepared for what she saw when she reached the hospital and was led to his side in the trauma bay.
Ten people surrounded her son.
“The doctor met with me immediately and explained that Hudson's body was in shock, and although he had received IV fluids for the past several hours in Willmar, he was not maintaining his blood pressure and they were moving him up to the Pediatric ICU. Once in the PICU they placed an arterial and central line and began giving him medication for his blood pressure,” she wrote on the CaringBridge site.
He has been experiencing some respiratory difficulties now and medical staff have performed atrial fibrillation to maintain a proper heart rhythm. He has not been able to eat and is using a feeding tube.
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The family is looking to take baby steps forward, said Dana. MIS-C is a very rare complication, and physicians here are consulting with counterparts in New York who have had some experience with it due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.
Along with having his parents at his side, Hudson is able to maintain digital contact with his three siblings, in grades 12, one and kindergarten. No one else in the family has shown any symptoms of COVID-19 though Dana said doctors reminded them it is possible to be asymptomatic. She urges everyone to use masks and follow social distancing recommendations to prevent the spread of this virus.
The family is managing well through it all thanks to support from friends and family.
“We have an amazing village of friends and family that have just jumped in and rallied around things,” said Dana. “It’s the benefit of living in Small Town USA,” she said. That support, and a love for Jesus, have helped carry them, she said.
