8-Year-Old Suffers Shocking COVID-19 Side Effect, Leaving Her In Constant Pain

An 8-year-old girl in Union County, North Carolina, lost all her toenails and suffered other side effects after contracting COVID-19, her mother revealed.

The girl, identified as Addie, contracted the virus one week into the school year after she stayed in a classroom where most of her classmates did not wear masks, WSOC-TV Channel 9 reported.

Addie recovered three weeks after as her case was mild, but she later experienced irregular heartbeats and full-body nerve pain as side effects, according to the outlet.

"She would wake up and not be able to breathe or catch her breath. All day she would be in respiratory distress," Addie's mother, Sara Lanthorn, was quoted as saying.

Additionally, the young girl lost all her toenails following her recovery.

The condition — dubbed by doctors as "COVID toes" — could have been caused by insufficient oxygen flow to Addie's feet while she still had the virus, or blood vessel damage, Lanthorn said.

Doctors are reportedly uncertain whether or not Addie's toenails will ever grow back.

"We don't know. This could be a lifetime of issues for a child that was perfectly healthy prior to getting COVID," Lanthorn said.

Addie, who was described by her mother as an "active and healthy" dancer, now takes medicine twice a day to deal with her irregular heartbeats and nerve pain. Her parents also wrap her feet at night to lessen the pain she experiences while she sleeps

Lanthorn has booked vaccine appointments for two of Addie's siblings following the incident and urged other parents to do the same.

"Are you OK with your child getting COVID and possibly having long-term side effects? Are you OK with them losing all 10 of their toenails and crying to you every night as you have to wrap their feet?" Lanthorn said.

The mother claimed she holds the Union County Board of Education responsible for her daughter's ongoing pain as they made masks optional.

Around 2,400 parents in the county planned to protest at the School Board meeting on Thursday to ask the district to make masks mandatory at least until a majority of students get vaccinated, according to the report.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has already approved the use of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for children aged between five and 11.