LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Some children in Kentucky have been diagnosed with coronavirus, but a portion of these children also end up facing something potentially more serious: Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), where vital organs are inflamed weeks to months after recovering from COVID-19. 

Doctors at Norton Healthcare have successfully treated 14 patients with MIS-C. One of them was 11-year-old Carmelo Blaine, who was also the first child diagnosed in Kentucky.

Blaine's mother, Asia Wickliffe, cherishes the athletic photos of her son as she points to those of him in uniform in previous years. 

"This is my baby," Wickliffe beamed, "Not this guy here in the [hospital] bed."

Wickliffe decorated her son's hospital room for his two and a half week stay at the Norton Children's Heart Institute in May.

"You know, you see all the big machines and the lights, and the doctors with the masks. It was just, uh, overwhelming, to say the least," she explained. 

Blaine was hooked to a ventilator for treatment after spending days running a high fever and vomiting with bloodshot eyes. He explains it as feeling a sickness like never before. But doctors seemed stumped at first, according to Wickliffe, on a diagnosis for Blaine. Come to find out, he was the first child to have MIS-C in the Commonwealth. Wickliffe was shocked to learn he had COVID-19 four to six weeks earlier, according to blood tests which found antibodies. 

"His body had started to fight infection after the infection had already left his body, so it was fighting itself," Wickliffe said. 

It meant some inflammation in part of the heart. Doctors have treated 14 kids in Kentucky, from several parts of the state, for MIS-C. 

"Some of them have been sick," Brian Holland, M.D., said. He's the chief pediatric cardiologist at the Norton Children's Heart Institute. "They've been in the Intensive Care Unit. They've almost all have needed IV-strength medicines, steroids, anti-inflammatory medicine. Some of them had so much inflammation that their heart muscle really wasn't working well."

A couple of days after tests and treatment, Wickliffe's worst fear seemed realized. 

"'It's not looking good. Call your family and pray.' That's literally [nurse's] words," said Wickliffe. "And, at that point, you know in the movies when the room spins and everything's blurry. That happened."

But hours later, he pulled through. Blaine began to improve. 

He doesn't remember too much, explaining, it's all pretty much a blur. He slept a lot. But now, it's almost surreal for him to understand what happened. 

"Sometimes I just wonder like, I don't even know how I went through everything, you know?" he remarked. 

Today, the sixth-grader appears to be the picture of health. There's no way to tell by looking that he fought MIS-C. However, he is due some checkups next month. Holland says his team is still studying the potential for lasting heart troubles. That's scary for any mother. 

"I'm terrified actually, for that reason," Wickliffe added. 

Blaine advises other kids to "stay strong and safe" as the pandemic continues. Because of her son, Wickliffe feels people should take the virus more seriously. 

Holland says MIS-C seems to be rare, but he's unsure of actually how common it is because it's hard to say how many kids have had COVID-19. His advice to parents is to see their child's doctor if there are symptoms like high fever, and sometimes even a skin rash, and if your child is less active than usual.