Molly Lenig from Colorado Springs, Colorado, is sharing some unsettling photos of her daughter Athena for an important reason: to warn other parents about hand, foot, and mouth disease. The upset mom is speaking out about the infection she believes her toddler caught at a local splash pad while they were trying to have some summer fun. The mom says shortly after she and her 2-year-old visited the public splash pad, her girl broke out in a fever and painful sores that have covered her body and now she wants other parents to see it.
Lenig shared that her daughter's miserable experience started with a Fourth of July trip to a local splash pad.
The two visited the John Venezia Community Park on July 4, reports KOAA. "She'd gone in there with her pacifier. I assumed she dropped it and put it in her mouth," the mom shared.
It's a common enough mistake for little ones to put pacifiers back in their mouths after dropping them on the ground. But her mom believes that this time Athena's tiny mishap caused serious problems.
The mom explained that her daughter was later diagnosed with the highly contagious infection hand, foot, and mouth disease.
On Friday July 5, a day after her splash pad visit, the toddler developed a fever and then her symptoms rapidly got worse. "Fever Friday, rash Sunday, when I took her to the doctor on Monday the doctor said it was a very severe case and rare that it gets this bad," the mom explained to KRDO. Athena had contracted hand, foot, and mouth disease — a contagious viral infection "characterized by sores in the mouth and a rash on the hands and feet," explains The Mayo Clinic.
"It has been overwhelming," the mom told KOAA. "Sometimes, the nights where she's been up, screaming, crying, even after medication, I've honestly sat there and cried just looking at her blisters."
"As a mom, I want to take away her pain. I'd rather me be sick than her," Lenig lamented.
The disease is most commonly spread through children and passes from child to child through fecal matter and spit. Lenig said she believed her daughter caught her infection because other parents aren't looking after their children who aren't potty-trained.
"It's a public place," she said. "It needs to be, you know, just like picking up after yourself — trash."
Hailey Zachary, a communicable disease epidemiologist, agreed that feces and spit might have been the source of Athena's infection. "It can be spread through things like water, but it's a lot less likely," she said.
Which is why the mom is sharing photos of her daughter's skin to warn other parents to be careful when allowing their kids to play this summer.
KRDO added that while the El Paso County Public Health website regularly lists when the public pools have been cleaned, there are no state regulations that require splash pads to be cleaned regularly. The city says it tests water at the splash pad each day and the system is back washed twice each day.
KOAA added that the county does not often inspect splash pads unless there are multiple reports of the same illness. In this case, officials have no reason to believe there is an outbreak of hand, foot, and mouth disease.
The El Paso County Health Department added that the disease is a common childhood illness that once kids contract it and recover, which should take about two weeks, will cause them to be immune to the virus.
Meanwhile, as of Wednesday July 10, little Athena was still in the thick of her illness. "She's barely eaten, barely drinking. She's drinking enough to where she's hydrated. She's itchy, she's miserable," her mother said.
