Orlando Pride star Sydney Leroux’s young children struggled through COVID-19 symptoms
Orlando Pride star Sydney Leroux said her children’s experience with COVID-19 was harder than she and her family ever expected.
The star striker shared on social media Monday night that her children — four-year-old Cassius and one-year-old Roux — have been fighting COVID-19 for several weeks.
“For the longest time we’ve heard that children aren’t badly affected by COVID and, maybe, for the most part that is the case,” Leroux wrote in an Instagram post. “For us - it wasn’t.”
Leroux said she woke up several weeks ago to the sound of Cassius screaming from his room. When she held him, she said her son felt like he was “burning from the inside out.”
Cassius tested positive for COVID-19 the following morning. Roux tested positive three days later. Leroux said both of their symptoms were severe — a high fever, vomiting, exhaustion and “an awful cough.”
Leroux took several weeks off training with the Pride to care for both children alongside her husband, former Orlando City striker Dom Dwyer. She returned to training Monday and will be back with the team this week ahead of the Pride’s first match of the Challenge Cup against Louisville on Monday.
Despite her absence from training, coach Marc Skinner said Leroux returned invigorated and looked ready for game play Monday. Leroux said she hasn’t tested positive for COVID-19 despite her children’s bout with the virus.
Orlando City and Pride players and staff received their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine Monday, and staff family members will receive their first shots Tuesday.
Vaccines are now open to all people 18 and older in the state of Florida, and the Pfizer vaccine is available to everyone over the age of 16. Appointments are available at a variety of locations throughout the Central Florida region.
“It has been an extremely hard couple of weeks, but thankfully things are much better now,” Leroux wrote. “I wanted to share this story to urge everyone to continue taking this virus seriously, when it comes to both you AND your children. I am extremely grateful that both my kids are back to good health and lucky that, somehow, I managed to stay healthy throughout. So please keep wearing your mask, stay socially distanced and get a vaccine if [and] when you can so we can beat this virus together.”
This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Julia Poe at jpoe@orlandosentinel.com.
