COVID-19 Aftermath: 11-Year-Old Girl Has Feeding Tube A Year After She Tests Negative

An 11-year-old girl, who contracted COVID-19 a year ago, is still battling the aftermath of the virus that left her with a feeding tube.

Tillie Adams tested positive for Coronavirus in January 2021 but the Post COVID Infection Syndrome, also known as Long COVID, has left her so weak that she struggles to even climb stairs.

Tillie, from Hackney in the U.K., said her weight plummetted dangerously and the girl has been battling frequent fainting spells over the last year, reported Wales Online.

"Sometimes I get so angry, I want to go to school, but it's just so hard, some days I can't because I'm just so tired and so washed out," Tillie was quoted by the news outlet.

According to experts, some people with COVID-19 have lingering symptoms for weeks or months after they begin to recover. Research shows that about 10% of people between 18 to 49 who have COVID-19 get Long COVID.

When diagnosed with COVID-19 last year, Tillie had a fever, body pain and loss of smell and taste. Though she recovered within a few days, she still had headaches, stomach pains and difficulty eating. Tillie's journey is being documented on her Instagram account.

Tillie said she was scared and confused during that period. "I just felt confused, I was just so scared, I didn't know what to do. At first, I'd just stay in bed because I was scared to move," she told the outlet.

Tillie was hospitalized after she began losing body weight. "The more weight she was losing, the weaker she became. She went grey and her lips split open, it was awful. It took a month before her energy levels picked up," said Tillie's mother Kelly Adams.

"She couldn't manage the stairs, she was sometimes falling up the stairs and when she got to the top she was so lightheaded she would almost faint. She still gets those effects now. She's like a totally different child," her mother added.

Initially, Tillie couldn't even dress herself up but she still needs her mother to wash her hair.

Her condition is now being studied by the researchers of University College Hospital in London.

Though the girl was told her feeding tube could be removed after two weeks, Tillie still has it. Her health condition has also made her miss much of her final year at primary school.