Mom Clueless Red Mark on Son's Face Was Sign of Serious Illness Until ER Visit

By Amanda Thomason March 1, 2019 at 11:40am

When you’re a parent, you answer questions you never thought you’d be asked, you see things you never thought you’d see and you deal with things no parenting manuals could ever fully prepare you for.

Study as much as you want ahead of time, but there will always be curveballs.

One family discovered something new when their son Coop started to get a red rash on his cheeks and over his nose. Like many parents, they were concerned about their child and went in to have it checked out.

The first visit to the doctor was inconclusive, but the second trip alerted them to the serious condition Coop was experiencing. If they hadn’t caught it when they did, it could have killed the boy.

Concerned for others who might encounter similar incidents, the boy’s father, Arden Hawley, posted the story and photos on Facebook in an attempt to inform and warn other parents.

Did you know you could get strep throat in your sinuses?

“Okay folks here is a heads up for anyone who may see something strange and wonder what it may be like we did,” the dad wrote on Feb. 26. “Coop had a strange mark across his face that we thought was compliments of his little brother.”

“After seeing personal physician who gave him a steroid that only made it worse since he didn’t know what it was, we came to the ER at eirmc where they determined he had strep throat but in his sinuses and obviously in his face.”

“It could have been really bad had we not came in, they told us it will continue to migrate through there eyes and into their brain if not treated.

“They believe we caught his in time but please take this and show as far and wide as you can. It may save someone’s babies. ❤️❤️❤️.”

“Thank you all so much for the prayers and shares, I have no doubt this will help someone get treatment much quicker than they may have without seeing this.”

Of course, because the post was public, dozens of “helpful” comments came pouring in, telling the parents that it was this condition or that condition or they needed to take a different treatment course. Multiple people pointed out that the rash pattern looked like the Lupus-related “butterfly rash” or a bad sunburn.

Thankfully, the actual doctors were listened to, and according to Hawley, Coop is on the mend.

“Just a quick update,” Hawley wrote on Feb. 27. “Coop is home and doing much better! Thank you to everyone who cared and shared. I truly believe we helped someone somewhere.”

Submit a Correction →