CNN is reporting that a 9-year-old Middletown, Ohio, girl has died after being diagnosed with the coronavirus. While events like this are sadly not uncommon in the midst of this pandemic, doctors are calling the cause of death of Dorielis Reyes-Paula a “medical mystery.”
Chris Rehmert and Taylor Williamson taught Dorielis at Wildwood Elementary School in Middletown. “We’ve all been praying and hoping for the miracle,” Rehmert said.
That miracle didn’t come to pass though, and Dorielis passed away at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center on the evening of August 19. “The news coming that she had passed was devastating,” said Rehmert.
The girl’s mother detailed her illness online, saying Dorielis first started walking strangely in May. She went to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with COVID-19. Her symptoms turned to brain inflammation and paralysis in her arms and legs, which doctors first thought could be a tumor, then multiple sclerosis, then vasculitis…an inflammation of the blood vessels that causes thickening of the vessel walls.
The vasculitis treatment seemed briefly to work where the other treatments had failed, but an MRI revealed that the inflammation continued to worsen.
“Hearing that she was that sick in the beginning was hard, but hearing that was ten times harder,” Rehmert said. Williamson and Rehmert visited Dorielis at the hospital last week, retelling stories about the student.
Rehmert said, “While we were laughing at one of the stories that the doctors were telling us, her little eyes kept — not opening, but fluttering, like, ‘I’m laughing with you guys. I’m here, I’m laughing.’”
Rehmert recalled a story about the stricken child, saying “She’s sitting there with a book in each hand, reading during math class. And I didn’t — I’d never have to tell a child but Dorielis, ‘Put your books away.’”
Dorielis’ personality shined through the school and into the hearts of her teachers. “She, as a student, was just so energetic, bubbly, sweet,” Williamson said. “If we even started to look sad, she picked up on it and she was right there,” Rehmert said. “And she was like, ‘What can I do to help you?’”
The women said they are carrying the girl’s memory close to their hearts, wearing shirts and masks with her initials and a Noah’s ark on them. Dorielis wanted to visit the ark. “We truly believe she is speaking with Noah now, and she is getting the real story,” Rehmert said.
“I will never forget her,” Williamson said. “She will influence me in so many more ways than just as a teacher.”
The school district is making counselors available for students who need to talk about their grief. Teachers also said the school psychologist will be popping into Zoom classes and meetings in case students there need to talk as well.
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Source: The Village Reporter
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