10-year-old Texas boy dies after COVID-19 battle

Thursday, October 14, 2021
HOUSTON, Texas -- A 10-year-old Texas boy who fought COVID-19 and other complications for more than two weeks has died after his family had to make the heart-wrenching decision to remove him from life support.

Zyrin Foots died Wednesday afternoon, according to his aunt.

The video above is from our sister station ABC13's initial story on Foots and his battle against COVID-19.

Foots was admitted to the hospital on Sept. 30, and his body progressively shut down as medical staff tried desperately to get him healthy again, his aunt, Ashley Engmann, said.
[Ads /]
RELATED: Boy who died of COVID is Houston's 1st pediatric virus death without underlying health issues

Engmann told ABC13 on Wednesday that doctors had given her nephew's mother two options.



"They gave my sister a choice: to amputate his legs and arms or let him go," Engmann said at the time. "Without the amputation, he doesn't have any chance to live. With it, he has a 25% chance."

Foots was a student at Huntsville Intermediate School where his family believed he contracted the virus.

Engmann said doctors at Texas Children's Hospital told them Zyrin's case was one of the worst they'd seen.


In addition to the virus, Zyrin contracted respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, his aunt said. Zyrin also suffered from a rare but deadly COVID-19 complication known as MIS-C. Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in children causes inflammation in different parts of the body, including the heart.

"Because his heart couldn't pump blood, he developed gangrene in the legs," Engmann said.
[Ads /]
The family has created a GoFundMe account for funeral expenses.

SEE ALSO: More than 140,000 US children lost a caregiver during the pandemic, new CDC study suggests
Copyright © 2024 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.