kawasaki disease Deborah Copaken Kogan’s 4-year-old son Leo woke up with a rash. Since a recent note from Leo’s day care reported a case of strep in his classroom, Deborah felt his forehead, noted it was hot, and took him for a strep test. That’s how a long saga involving Facebook unfolded, as told in full on Slate. While waiting for the test, she snapped a photo of her son on the examination table and posted it to Facebook with the following caption: “Nothing says Happy Mother’s Day quite like a Sunday morning at the pediatrician’s.” The test came back negative, but the doctor decided to treat Leo for strep while waiting for his throat culture r
esults. Back on Facebook, many friends commented on the photo asking what was wrong. Deborah wrote “Strep, no biggie.” She then filled the prescription at the nearest pharmacy and fed Leo his first dose. The next morning, Leo was worse. The family doctor concluded it was scarlet fever (a fancy name for strep with a rash), also pending the results of the throat culture. Deborah posted another photo on Facebook with the following less cheeky caption: “Baby getting sicker. Eyes swollen shut. Fever rising. Penicillin not working. Might be scarlet fever. Or roseolang worse,” she wrote, “especially eyes and chin. Fever still crazy high. Poor baby.” Ten minutes later, Deborah received a call from her Facebook friend Stephanie, a film actress and former neighbor. “I hope you’ll excuse me for butting in but you have to get to the hospital,” she said. “Now.
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The longer you wait, the worse the damage.” Her son Max had had the exact same symptoms, and was hospitalized for Kawasaki disease. Deborah looked it up online and found it was a rare and sometimes fatal auto-immune disorder that attacks the coronary arteries surrounding the heart. Many of Leo’s symptoms seemed to match the descriptions, though there were also similar ones to the flu and scarlet fever.
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