Teen Girl Diagnosed With Leukemia Right After Testing Positive For Covid-19; Mother Says Daughter Is ‘Doing Okay’ But ‘Fighting For Her Life’

A teen girl has been diagnosed with leukemia right after testing positive for Covid-19. 

Thirteen-year-old Ariel Griffith is currently in the hospital fighting sepsis and Leukemia. During an interview with Today Health, Ariel’s mother, Lauren Hocin, shared details about the heartbreaking situation, explaining how her daughter was “vomiting and throwing up” on Dec. 8. Hocin said her family believed the girl contracted Covid-19 because her step-father tested positive for the virus a week prior, People reports. 

Days later the girl went to a doctor and found out she leukemia. While the news was not what she wanted to hear, Hocin says she was “thankful” for the physician who saw her daughter. “Instead of saying, ‘Your lymph nodes are swollen because of coronavirus,’ she insisted on a blood test,” Hocin said. ”It came back that her white blood cell count was very low, along with platelets, and she was sent to the emergency room.”

Today Health reports that the teen has been undergoing chemotherapy since last Friday. Hocin started a GoFundMe page for Ariel, which has raised about half of the family’s $50,000 goal. “Sadness has definitely taken over but I have to remind myself ‘small miracles.’ I cannot even begin to tell you how many signs from God I’ve seen in the last few days, without a single doubt, and many of you have shown me over and over and over again,” Hocin wrote.

Hocin said Ariel is “doing okay” but “fighting for her life.” On Sunday Hocin said her daughter was was “a little swollen today because of the chemo but it’s doing its job flushing out the cancer from her blood” in a Facebook post.

“She’s still on the ventilator & they have added a feeding tube which she is responding well to,” Hocin continued. “Her lungs aren’t strong enough to breathe on her own, they tried to wean off some of the meds to see how she did & she did not respond well so she’s right back on the meds to be completely asleep. However! This just means she needs more time for her lungs to heal & that’s ok. She has GOT to beat COVID so she can beat leukemia.”

“She made some improvements today,” Hocin wrote on a Facebook post dedicated to updating supporters on Ariel’s health. “Although her temperature fluctuates, she finally broke her fever & her blood is looking better which is a relief. She’s not out of the woods but she is stable & THAT is the best news we can hear for right now, baby steps. It’s going to be a process & that’s ok. I have patience for our Ariel to take the time she needs to beat all of this.”

Hocin says sharing Ariel’s story will hopefully encourage others to stay strong. “Ariel’s story is going to help other people,” Hocin said. “We are in pieces over the support we have gotten. Our neighbors are delivering things every day. I can’t even begin to describe the amount of support we have had. I just can’t tell you what it will create in me to do with others. This is breeding an even bigger passion in me to help other moms going through the same thing.”