This Swedish lad whose immune system has been decimated while undergoing chemotherapy for leukaemia has caught the coronavirus.
Little Gustav Loveryd, 3, was diagnosed last autumn with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and although children have a high chance of surviving it, treatment involves an intensive course of chemotherapy which reduces the ability of his immune system to fight infections to almost zero.
Now he shocked parents have been told that in the middle of is treatment, he was infected with the coronavirus probably in a visit from his family despite every precaution being taken to the point where his younger sister ended up with eczema because she was sterilising her hands so much.
Credit: CEN/@gogustav
They all reported suffering from what they thought was a mild cold, but his mother Jessica too late noticed the loss of smell which indicates the coronavirus infection and by then one of his family which includes his dad and two siblings aged eight and 12 had given it to Gustav.
His mum Jessica told CEN: “He is the first child in Sweden to have ALL and COVID-19 but seems to be doing well at the moment.”
“The cancer-treatment with chemotherapy in total will take over two years and will hopefully be finished in November 2021 if everything goes according to plan.
“The treatment is working well for the cancer, but there have been lots of side effects with the treatment. He doesn’t eat anything on his own, he must get his nutrition through a tube down his throat or directly into the blood.
“He has had lots of other infections as well, and he stopped walking for several months which made his foot crooked and he had to wear certain “boots” to straighten it. Now he walks but a little unsteady and he stumbles, and he can’t run at all.”
His family have been sharing their son’s experiences on Instagram in the hope that others can learn lessons if they end up in similar circumstances.
Jessica said:”We started _gogustav_ to be able to share our experiences with others and to come in contact with others in the same situation and we have and even more importantly we have raised money for “Barncancerfonden” which is an organisation that finance research and do a lot of other things for children with cancer and their families.”
The hospital said only his immediate family who are from the municipality of Alingsas in Sweden’s Vastra Gotaland County and nursing staff were allowed to visit the boy, and that in among his chemotherapy he was now having COVID-19 treatments, and so far somehow seemed to be fighting off the symptoms.
Dad Daniel Sletteberg Loveryd said: “He is just happy and laughs, as he has all the time through this.” They even posted a picture to show him laughing as he spots the familiar faces of family and nurses behind their protective gear.
Daniel said they were trying to stay positive, although they were worried.
He said: “It’s a lot of uncertainty, everyone is basically guessing, but we’ve learned in the last six months that there are always setbacks, we need to stay positive as we can and for now – he is still well. If he gets a fever, maybe it will be different . . . “
To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below.
Story By: Michael Leidig, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
The Ananova page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.
