{"id":37071,"date":"2026-08-10T19:44:42","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T14:44:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=37071"},"modified":"2026-08-10T19:44:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T14:44:42","slug":"4-year-old-suffers-stroke-after-common-childhood-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=37071","title":{"rendered":"4-year-old suffers stroke after common childhood disease"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F08%2F136995846.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>A four-year-old was hospitalized for two months after suffering a stroke \u2014 which was likely triggered by a common childhood illness she\u2019d picked up months before.<\/p>\n<p>Olivia Elliot, now 5, woke up vomiting and complaining of a headache in June 2025 but her mother, Rebecca, 31, initially thought she had just picked up a bug.<\/p>\n<p>But when the tot toppled on one side and couldn\u2019t grip her mother\u2019s hand, she was rushed to hospital and her condition rapidly deteriorated.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Olivia Elliot suffered a stroke months after contracting chickenpox, which doctors believe triggered severe inflammation in one of her main arteries and caused the stroke. <span class=\"credit\">Rebecca Elliott \/ SWNS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After CT scans, MRI scans, blood tests and a lumbar puncture, doctors confirmed the four-year-old had suffered a stroke.<\/p>\n<p>They discovered severe inflammation in one of the main arteries supplying her neck, which specialists believe had been triggered by the chickenpox virus she contracted in Christmas 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Olivia temporarily lost movement down the left side of her body, her speech became slurred and one side of her face drooped. She spent almost eight weeks in hospital before beginning the long road to recovery.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t think children as young as four could have strokes,\u201d Rebecca, who is from West Lothian, Scotland said.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cShe had chickenpox in December, just before Christmas. She had lots of spots, but she wasn\u2019t unwell, really. I thought we\u2019d had an easy case.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olivia was born nine weeks premature and was later diagnosed with mild cerebral palsy after brain damage was detected as a baby.<\/p>\n<p>Despite years of physiotherapy, Rebecca says Olivia\u2019s determination helped her become increasingly independent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019d worked so hard to get to where she was,\u201d Rebecca said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>When she toppled on one side and couldn\u2019t grip her mother\u2019s hand, she was rushed to hospital and her condition rapidly deteriorated. <span class=\"credit\">Rebecca Elliott \/ SWNS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But shortly before Christmas, Olivia caught chickenpox. After making a full recovery, the family had no reason to think anything was wrong. Then, six months later, everything changed.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca remembers her husband waking her after finding Olivia being sick. Olivia had been throwing up clear liquid, which Rebecca thought was odd, and she started complaining of a headache.<\/p>\n<p>The pair decided to stay at home for a \u201csick\u201d day. But when Olivia couldn\u2019t sit up on the sofa and kept falling onto her left side, Rebecca grew worried.<\/p>\n<p>They decided to play darts, but Olivia, who is left-handed, couldn\u2019t grab the dart with her left hand. Initially, Rebecca wondered if it was linked to Olivia\u2019s cerebral palsy.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>\u201cI started screaming, \u2018Something\u2019s not right. Something\u2019s happening to Olivia,&#8217;\u201d her mother said. <span class=\"credit\">Rebecca Elliott \/ SWNS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI put my finger into her hand and said, \u2018Can you grab Mummy\u2019s hand?\u2019 She couldn\u2019t do it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca called her business partner \u2014 whose speciality is brain injuries \u2014 and followed her advice to immediately take Olivia to the emergency room at St. John\u2019s Hospital in Livingston.<\/p>\n<p>While seeing the doctor, Rebecca remembers that Olivia had an \u201cunexplainable episode\u201d while sitting in her mother\u2019s lap \u2014 but Rebecca knew something was wrong.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI started screaming, \u2018Something\u2019s not right. Something\u2019s happening to Olivia,&#8217;\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>As Olivia\u2019s speech became slurred and one side of her face began to droop, she was transferred by blue-light ambulance to Edinburgh\u2019s Royal Hospital for Children for specialist treatment.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Olivia\u2019s speech became slurred and one side of her face began to droop. <span class=\"credit\">Rebecca Elliott \/ SWNS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The biggest shock came after Olivia woke from her MRI scan and could no longer move the left side of her body.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHer face was so drooped. It was heart-breaking. She couldn\u2019t eat or speak,\u201d she said. \u201cThe most heart-breaking thing for me was looking at her. She didn\u2019t look like Olivia at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Doctors carried out extensive investigations before identifying inflammation in one of Olivia\u2019s main brain arteries, which they linked to the earlier chickenpox infection. She began improving after starting antibiotics.<\/p>\n<p>Doctors also reassured the family the stroke was unrelated to Olivia\u2019s cerebral palsy, although her existing condition made rehabilitation more challenging.<\/p>\n<p>Olivia remained in the hospital for eight weeks from June 29 until August 11, 2025 before finally returning home.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>She began improving after starting antibiotics. <span class=\"credit\">Rebecca Elliott \/ SWNS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Just days after being discharged, Olivia started elementary school.<\/p>\n<p>Though she didn\u2019t need a wheelchair before her stroke, she relied on one at school while rebuilding her strength. Rebecca initially attended school as her one-on-one support.<\/p>\n<p>Now five years old, Olivia is walking independently around the house and uses a walker at school. Rebecca believes her years of physiotherapy before the stroke helped prepare her for rehabilitation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause she was already used to physio and hospital appointments, she fell into recovery really naturally,\u201d she said. \u201cShe never complains. She just gets on with it. She\u2019s such a tough kid. She\u2019s such a happy kid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca also founded Olivia\u2019s Steps Foundation to support families of children with disabilities.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Though she didn\u2019t need a wheelchair before her stroke, she relied on one at school while rebuilding her strength. Rebecca initially attended school as her one-on-one support. <span class=\"credit\">Rebecca Elliott \/ SWNS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cOur journey is such a sad one, but it\u2019s led me to something so rewarding,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Her message to other parents is simpleL \u201cHer main symptoms were vomiting and a headache. Which you don\u2019t associate with strokes. Most people think of the \u2018BE FAST\u2019 analogy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>BE FAST stands for standard stroke warning signs: balance, eyes, face, arms and speech \u2014 and time, the instruction to call emergency services immediately. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cLife is so busy and things are so easily skipped by. Strokes can happen at any age, at any time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the first two weeks that she was in [the] hospital, we met two families who\u2019s children had had strokes. One little boy was on his second. This is something that happens to people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf something doesn\u2019t feel right, trust your instincts.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A four-year-old was hospitalized for two months after suffering a stroke \u2014 which was likely triggered by a common childhood illness she\u2019d picked up months before. Olivia Elliot, now 5, woke up vomiting and complaining of a headache in June 2025 but her mother, Rebecca, 31, initially thought she had just picked up a bug&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/136995846.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}