Columbus County teen hospitalized in Chapel Hill due to COVID-19

CHAPEL HILL, NC (WWAY) — A Columbus County mother is speaking out on her teen son’s battle with COVID-19, and she has a message for other parents.

Lamisha Moore is the mother of 17-year-old Channing Jones, a Whiteville High School Senior, who is currently hospitalized in Chapel Hill after contracting the coronavirus.

Moore says she and her son both tested positive for COVID-19 in late August.  Moore, who was vaccinated soon recovered. Channing is unvaccinated, and his health worsened. He has been hospitalized since September 8.

“So they told me in the beginning that, you know Channing’s lungs were severely damaged. One of the respiratory therapists said that Channing has the worst that he’s seen since COVID ever started,” said Lamisha Moore.

Channing spent time in two South Carolina hospitals, and was eventually put on a ventilator.

His condition worsened and he was placed on an ECMO (Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) machine, which helps the body breathe when the lungs are failing, and was transferred to the hospital in Chapel Hill.

His mother said she was shocked to see multiple kids hospitalized with the COVID-19 Delta Variant.

“You hear COVID, you hear more the older generation is passing away, and even when I’m at the hospital, — when I was in Grand Strand in the PICU with him, it was 3 other kids also that was with COVID with the ECMO machines,” said Moore.

Moore says she regrets not talking with her son more about the vaccine, or forcing him to get it.

“I would advise everybody to get vaccinated, because my baby is 17 years old. Who would think that COVID would literally put him in the hospital like this,” said Moore.

New Hanover County Health Director David Howard says parents should encourage their teens to get the vaccine, because the impact of COVID-19 varies for every person.

“For anyone who is a teenager, young adult, is susceptible to the virus, the troubling part for all of us, frankly, is that we don’t know who may fall victim to more serious illness, because of some underlying conditions. So what we’re advocating for is everyone use the vaccine protect themselves,” said David Howard, New Hanover County Health Director.

At this time, Moore is still in Chapel Hill, and does not know the timeline doctors are estimating for her son’s recovery.