Cape Cod boy returns home after battling a rare and potentially deadly COVID-19 condition

BOSTON — The bubble parade at Franciscan Children’s was a long time coming for 7-year-old Isaiah Celin. The South Yarmouth boy spent 42 days at Franciscan Children’s and Boston Children’s Hospital after he was diagnosed with MIS-C or Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children. It’s a rare and potentially deadly illness in children involving persistent fever and extreme inflammation following exposure to COVID-19.

Although Isaiah never tested positive for Covid-19, doctors believed he had been infected, but never showed symptoms. “It’s been crazy, kind of like a nightmare that you feel you probably might never wake up from, but thank God we did,” said Marie Celin, Isaiah’s mother.

Celin says her son was sent home from school on January 11, 2022, with what was believed to be a stomach bug and a fever. After becoming increasingly sicker and his fever worsened Isaiah was rushed to Boston Children’s. “Out of the blue he started with a little stomach ache and it turned into one of the most traumatic experiences of our lives,” she said.

Celin says Isaiah almost died in the ambulance on the way from Cape Cod Hospital to Boston. “He was very ill in the intensive care unit and on a breathing machine. Basically, his blood pressure was so low that it could barely circulate his blood and he was in heart failure,” Dr. Dave Leslie, a pediatrician on the inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation unit at Franciscan Children’s.

Isaiah spent 17 days in the ICU at Boston Children’s and then was then transferred to Franciscan for rehabilitation, where he had to re-learn how to eat and walk, but there were some lighter moments between Isaiah and his nurses. “I always hide and when they come towards me I say boo and they always scream,” he said.

After a month-and-a-half in hospitals, Thursday was a day to celebrate. Isaiah and his parents finally walked out of the hospital and headed home to the rest of their family, including Isaiah’s two siblings.

Doctors say they’re confident Isaiah will be just as healthy as he was before he got sick. Mis-C is so rare, doctors say Isaiah is the first child they’ve treated for the illness at Franciscan Children’s.

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