JORDAN, Arkansas — From older Arkansans to the very young, a mom shared her child's story after a positive COVID-19 diagnosis.
Whitney Rodgers said the diagnosis came coupled with bacterial meningitis and left her healthy four-year-old son hospitalized for weeks.
"As a parent, my biggest fear is losing a child, and we honestly didn't know if he was going to make it there for a few days," she said.
It's every parent's worst nightmare and Whitney Rodgers had to live it.
"The fear that this could be our last moment with him was prevalent the entire time. It was so frightening, it was frightening," she said.
Rodgers watched as her son, Ollie, was hooked up to machines in a hospital bed for three weeks.
These days are now unbearable for her to think back on.
"I don't even like looking at the videos, the pictures, it's scary. It's still scary just looking at it," she said.
According to Rodgers, it all started the day after New Years'. What was supposed to be a vacation for her and her husband, turned into scrambling to find a quick flight home.
Her mother had called and said her four-year-old was being admitted to the hospital after taking him to the ER with a fever, as his speech turned into moans.
Once Ollie arrived at Arkansas Children's, he was diagnosed with COVID-19 and an extreme case of bacterial meningitis.
Even though Rodgers said he was vaccinated for meningitis in December.
"The big question was, 'how did he get this?' We know he had COVID, but he had no other infection," she said.
Rodgers said doctors believe the COVID weakened his immune system and allowed the bacteria to spread and become meningitis, but there are still several unknown factors.
Ollie suffered from a decrease in heart function, became a high risk for seizures, had two feeding tubes, and was unresponsive for several days.
A hospital stay that according to Rodgers, should've been close to six weeks, but the fighter in him cut that time by half.
"This kid is a miracle, I don't know how he found it in him to do what he did," she said.
The grateful mom said her son is now back to his normal self, playing games and enjoying precious moments with his siblings.
After going through this heartache, Rodgers wants to remind parents to keep an eye on their children.
"It turned quickly and you never know what could happen, I mean there is so many things we don't know," she said.
Rodgers said Ollie still has a long road ahead of him with physical and occupational therapy.
She said he will continue to see an immunologist for the next couple of months to figure out how he got meningitis even after being vaccinated.