>
A 15-year-old girl died on the day she was due to receive her Covid-19 vaccine after getting the virus and was deteriorating ‘amazingly’ quickly due to an ‘extremely rare’ heart problem caused by the virus, an investigation heard today.
To the horror of the medics, Jorja Halliday died just hours after being hospitalized due to Covid myocarditis – an inflammation of the heart muscle.
The aspiring musician – a ‘healthy’ girl – had complained of aches and pains while she had Covid-19, but was initially ‘comfortable’ at home.
Then, on September 28 last year, the day she was due to get her shot, her concerned mother Tracey took the schoolgirl to her GP as her symptoms worsened and she was immediately taken to hospital.
At Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, Hampshire, her decline was so rapid and devastating that her doctor said, ‘I’m not sure it was a situation anyone could have survived’.
Jorja Halliday died just hours after being hospitalized due to a heart problem caused by the coronavirus
The 15-year-old died the day she was due to receive her Covid-19 vaccine after getting the virus and worsened ‘astonishingly’ quickly due to an ‘extremely rare’ complication, an investigation heard today
Jorja had complained of aches and pains while she had Covid-19, but initially felt otherwise ‘comfortable’ at home
A judicial inquiry heard Jorja suffered from ‘severe’ myocarditis – inflammation of the heart muscle – caused by Covid-19.
Covid myocarditis in children is ‘extremely rare’ and Jorja’s situation was so unique that doctors who treated Jorja said she is the ‘only child they’ve seen it with before’.
dr. Nick Tarmey said the situation was so dire. Jorja’s team of doctors were “shocked” as they fought to save her, but were unsuccessful.
Speaking after Jorja’s inquest today with the Portsmouth coroner, Ms Halliday, 41, said she will constantly wonder if her daughter would still be alive if she got the shot earlier.
The inquest was told that Jorja had been checked in her bedroom on the evening of September 23, but fell ill during the night.
Mrs. Halliday said: ‘At 3:40 am I got a text from her saying ‘Mommy’… She said she was in pain all over and couldn’t get to sleep.’
She performed a lateral flow test as well as a PCR test and experienced aches and pains.
An inquest heard Jorja suffered from ‘severe’ myocarditis – inflammation of the heart muscle – caused by Covid-19
“She said she felt bad in general. She was able to eat and drink something, but she was in real pain,” her mother said.
She was given antibiotics from her GP as she showed signs of tonsilitis, and eventually started vomiting because she couldn’t keep food or water down and her throat was sore.
On the morning of September 28, Jorja had had a ‘restless’ night and Mrs Halliday was concerned about the vomiting so they went to her GP practice.
Worryingly, her resting heart rate was recorded as 144 beats per minute and Ms. Halliday rushed her to QA hospital at 2pm on the doctor’s advice.
But at 7 pm Jorja was dead.
In the hospital’s pediatric assessment unit, medics devised a plan to put her in a coma after she was admitted so they could transfer her to specialists in Southampton, but her heart rate plummeted.
dr. Critical care and anesthesia consultant Nick Tarmey said: ‘She looked very pale. She looked scared she couldn’t handle the demands of her body.’
Covid myocarditis in children is ‘extremely rare’ and Jorja’s situation was so unique, doctors who treated Jorja said she is the ‘only child they’ve seen it with before’ (Pictured: Jorja with her siblings Daisie and Oscar)
dr. Tarmey said before her heart rate dropped, it was 145 beats per minute, she had “critically” low blood pressure, and her blood lactate rose to “really worrying” levels.
“She looked scared, not only of the situation, but she had a feeling that something was seriously wrong with her body,” said Dr. Tarmey.
“Her body was really struggling, she was deteriorating quickly.
‘She looked confused and agitated. [Confusion] happens because your body can’t get enough blood to the brain, so we knew she was about to collapse.
“We were convinced it was heart failure, her heart couldn’t pump enough blood to her body because of Covid. It wouldn’t be long before she went into cardiac arrest.
“This was a tricky situation because there’s not much you can do to prevent it at the time.”
dr. Tarmey said at the hearing that he was “shocked” by the situation.
On the morning of September 28, Jorja had had a ‘restless’ night and Mrs Halliday was concerned about the vomiting so they went to her GP practice (Photo: Jorja with her siblings Daisie and Kallum)
“Anything we tried would only get us a few minutes. We couldn’t turn the situation around, we couldn’t stop the decline of her heart.
“We did all these interventions to help Jorja, but it kept getting worse.
“We were all shocked by what happened to Jorja.”
dr. Tarmey said severe myocarditis caused by Covid-19 is “extremely rare”.
He said: ‘I have not treated any other children with Covid as the cause of myocarditis, which is in line with how rare it is, I’m sure if you look at the percentage of children who have had it, it is extremely rare.
‘There are not many diseases’ [like myocarditis] that cause such a deterioration, it is terrible.
“I’m not sure it was a situation anyone could have survived.”
Jorja’s tearful mother told the hearing, “From the moment we got there until she died, she deteriorated so quickly.
dr. Critical care and anesthesia consultant Nick Tarmey said: ‘She looked very pale. She looked scared she couldn’t meet the demands of her body’ (Picture: Jorja with her siblings Daisie, Kallum, Julie and Oscar)
“All the staff did everything they could to help Jorja, they didn’t have a heart bypass, there was nothing they could do.”
She asked, ‘Had she had the Covid jab before, would it have affected her differently? Would the outcome be different?’
Dr Tarmey said, ‘I really don’t know. We know that the shot reduces the risk of serious complications, so I suppose a shot can reduce the risk of these complications, but I’m extrapolating that from the benefits we know.’
Coroner Sarah Whitby gave a conclusion of natural causes, with the cause of death being acute myocarditis associated with Covid-19.
Mrs Whitby said: ‘What was astonishing was that the deterioration was so rapid.
“Despite her mother’s prompt actions and proper medical treatment, she deteriorated rapidly and died later that day as a result of Covid-19.”
Jorja’s tearful mother told the hearing: ‘From the moment we got there until she died, she deteriorated so quickly’ (Photo: Jorja with her sister Daisie)
After the inquest, Ms Halliday, from Portsmouth, said she will always wonder if having a shot earlier would have changed things.
She said, “It will always be a question in my head. If she had it before, would the outcome be different?
“It’s a question no one can answer, there’s a lot of what ifs.”
Ms Halliday, who has a tattoo of her daughter’s heart track in the hospital on her own heart, said she hopes “it sends the message that Covid can do this to young people”.
Ms Halliday, who was wearing a mask at the hearing, added: ‘Jorja was loved by many people, she is still talked about.
‘Any birthday that’ [one of her four brothers and sisters] we’re writing notes for Jorja.’