A lot of people think of social media powerhouse Facebook as an elaborate daily distraction, but it can actually sometimes possibly save lives. Mother Karen McGregor was browsing Facebook when she noticed photographs of a rash, chock-full of conspicuous red bumps. She totally forgot about the bumps until a few days later, when she found alarmingly similar ones on her two year-old son. Karen immediately took her son to the hospital where physicians verified that her son had the tick-borne illness Lyme disease. While Karen never spotted the ticks herself, the telltale bites on her son’s skin alerted her to their presence.
Karen was extremely grateful for the initial Facebook posting that made her attentive to these noticeable red bumps. Because of that, she posted a Facebook message herself prompting everyone to be on the lookout for tic bites, a common problem during the summer months. She states that if she hadn’t read the post, she would have just assumed that her son’s rash was due to hanging out in the grass.
Concerned parents everywhere should learn a valuable lesson from Karen’s story and always pay close attention to their kids’ skin, particularly during the summertime. She compared the spots visually to bullseyes in an attempt to make it easier for people to quickly identify them.
When Karen detailed her story on Facebook, she asked everyone to share it to people they know, too. If you’re a parent and spot a rash like this on your child, take a cue from Karen and visit the doctor immediately.