Covid-19 Mystery Disease-Anthony Lawson

Anthony is an amazing 13 year old boy with a heart of gold, and a fire in his soul!  On May 3rd Anthony was not feeling well and had what appeared to be seasonal allergies. His father Dave took him to urgent care, where he was checked out and had no fever or any other symptoms at that time. 12 hours later Anthony was rushed in the middle of the night to Providence Hospital. He was tested for Covid-19 and those tests came back negative. By this time, Anthony had now developed a rash, red eyes & lips, headache & had been throwing up. Within a few minutes of being at the hospital, it was determined that Anthony was in full cardiac heart & kidney failure. He had a fever of 104 degrees & was immediately transported to Cardiac ICU at Seattle Children’s Hospital where his Mom Theresa was waiting for his arrival.  

As the week progressed, Anthony only got worse.  Anthony had 5 straight days of  hallucinations, in which he never once slept. His body was full of sepsis and his other organs were starting to fail. Up until that point, doctors believed that it was Anthony’s heart that was causing the issues, until a blood test confirmed that he tested positive for the Covid-19 antibodies. His family believes he was infected with the virus in January, before anyone knew this virus was even in the states.  

After a period of time doctors determined that he was suffering from the new mystery illness associated with Covid-19 affecting young children & teens. Anthony continued to remain in critical condition and was moved to the PICU (Pediatric ICU),  where they ruled out Kawasaki disease, but he continued to have heart failure, kidney failure and a fever of 104....BUT THIS KID IS A FIGHTER!!!! 


The doctors informed Dave & Theresa that Anthony was currently the only child in Washington State with this rare disease. Soon news spread and his story received both local and national attention, as there are only about 100 cases of this disease in the world. 


Theresa & Dave were asked to be on the local news coverage telling Anthony's story, in hopes of helping other families. This then blew up and became a national news story, and was featured on  ABC World News Tonight with David Muir, NBC, the Today Show & Good Morning America.


Theresa and Dave have fought their way through the red tape of doctors & mystery diagnosis. Neither Dave or Theresa ever left Anthony's side!  Theresa spent hundreds of hours at the hospital, researching, talking to doctors, nurses, trying to figure what was attacking Anthony’s body.   Weeks continued to pass by, and Anthony started to show signs of improvement.  He was still exhausted, and the simplest task wore him out, but every day he is getting stronger!

Currently Anthony is still at Children's Hospital.  Both Theresa & David are self-employed, with David traveling back & forth to California before all of this happened. Obviously, they both have stepped away from their jobs to be with Anthony around the clock, while taking care of their daughter as well. There will be a long road ahead for Anthony and his family, once he is released.  We would like to help the family be able to continue to be by his side, without the pressures of returning to work. That will allow Anthony & his sister to remain their sole focus and their top priority.

Anything you can do to help this family will be greatly appreciated!