'He asked me if he was dying': Mother shares terrifying tale of child's battle with strep
MACOMB, Illinois — Samantha Moore had no idea her 9-year-old son was suffering from a strep infection until his foot swelled up and he became delirious.
Colt Bearce is an active, healthy kid, so when he complained of feeling unwell after returning to the family's Macomb, Illinois, home from school Feb. 7, Moore wasn’t overly concerned.
“He walked in the door and just collapsed on the couch. And I was like, ‘Oh no, he’s getting sick,' because this kid is never down," said Moore. “I asked him what’s wrong, and he said 'I just don’t feel good. My nose is runny, and my head hurts a little bit.'”
Colt didn’t have a sore throat, the characteristic warning sign for strep infection, and his symptoms were relatively mild until overnight Feb. 8, when he spiked a 104-degree fever. Moore was at work when she received a disturbing text message from Colt’s father.
“He said Colt is talking nonsense. He was crawling all over the house, he wouldn’t stand up and walk, and was complaining that his foot hurt,” said Moore. “When I walked in the door, I could see how big his foot was, and nothing he was saying was making any sense, so I called an ambulance."
How do you get strep throat?: Watch out for these early signs of the highly contagious illness.
Strep cases are on the rise
Group A strep cases have been high across the nation since late 2022. In Illinois, more cases have already been reported in 2023 than in any of the last five years. In Peoria, Illinois, OSF Healthcare pediatrician Kristine Ray said she has diagnosed more strep throat this year than in the nine years she has been practicing medicine.
“In the clinic setting we are absolutely seeing an increase in the number of strep infections, strep throat being the most common, and I know all of my colleagues here at this office, in town and in the state are seeing an increase in strep,” she said.
Group A strep bacteria are common and generally cause mild illnesses such as strep throat and scarlet fever, but severe complications from strep happen when, for unknown reasons, the bacteria migrate to other parts of the body and become invasive.
Since late February, two central Illinois children have died from invasive group A strep: a 4-year-old Peoria girl and a 7-year-old Bloomington girl.
'He asked me if he was dying'
Colt was rushed to McDonough District Hospital in Macomb, where he was diagnosed with strep.
“And that’s when I started questioning everything — how does this lead to his foot being swollen and he can’t walk? This was his right foot, and within a half hour of being in the hospital he was complaining that his left knee hurt,” said Moore.
Blood work determined that Colt was septic, so the decision was quickly made to transfer him to OSF HealthCare Children’s Hospital of Illinois. The hour-and-a-half ambulance ride to Peoria was a harrowing experience for mother and son.
“His fever spiked again in the ambulance, he started talking nonsense, and was in excruciating pain,” said Moore. “At one point he asked me if he was dying, and that was the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through, because I didn’t know.”
Emergency surgery
Colt and his mother were greeted by an army of doctors when they arrived at Children’s Hospital.
“Doctors of infectious disease, surgeons and orthopedic doctors, and within an hour they had made the decision that he was going in for surgery,” said Moore. “The infection in his knee had pooled behind a growth plate, and they needed to drain all that infection out. And then they became concerned that it had spread to his bones. They wanted to do an MRI, but he couldn’t sit still because he was in too much pain.”
Surgery brought some relief for Colt, if only because he was sedated. Over the next few days, he received IV fluids as doctors tried a succession of antibiotics.
“They tried three different antibiotics and kept doing blood work,” said Moore. “They would send it off and when results came back, they would say, ‘That’s not the correct antibiotic, let’s try this one.’”
On Feb. 12, Moore was finally able to relax a little when it became clear that the third antibiotic was having the intended effect.
'How did I miss this?'
On Feb. 14, Colt went home, where he continued to recover.
“He went back to school about a week after he got home, in a wheelchair,” said Moore. “He started bearing weight on that foot about a week and a half ago. He still complains that it feels funny.”
Moore isn’t surprised her son’s foot still feels funny — it was swollen for about two and a half weeks, and at one point was so distended it looked like it was going to burst. But as bad as the foot looked, it is the knee that may have suffered permanent damage.
“They warned me that his gait may never be the same again, and if that growth plate is damaged, the leg could stop growing," said Moore. “He has to see orthopedic doctors for the next year to have the growth plate monitored.”
With all she’s been through, Moore said the scariest part is the thought that she missed something which could have prevented her son’s illness from becoming so severe. Each time one of the many tests done in the hospital came back pointing to strep, and only strep, she second-guessed herself.
“I asked the doctor, ‘What does this mean? How did I miss this?’” said Moore. “I feel like I just neglected my kid, but the doctors said, ‘We wouldn't have guessed it was strep. If you had taken him to a primary care doctor, they probably would have run a strep test just out of common practice, but he showed none of the classic signs of it. No rash, no sore throat, no sores in the mouth. Nothing.’”
Leslie Renken can be reached at (309) 370-5087 or lrenken@pjstar.com. Follow her on Facebook.com/leslie.renken.