NEWYou can now listen to PK Press Club articles!
Shawn Johnson remembers the night she took her baby to the emergency room.
The American gymnastics hero, who won Olympic gold on the balance beam at the 2008 Beijing Games, suddenly found herself the mother of a very young patient.
“He was 1 year old. It got worse very quickly. We ended up in the emergency room. He was having trouble breathing,” Johnson told PK Press Club Digital.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON PK Press Club
American Shawn Johnson, left, and compatriot Nastia Liukin stand on the podium after the women’s balance beam final of the artistic gymnastics event at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, August 19, 2008. (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)
Her son, Jett James East, suffered from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a highly contagious virus that infects the lungs and airways. Her oldest daughter, Drew Hazel East, caught a milder version at a young age but never needed to go to the hospital.
Then, when Johnson became pregnant with her third child, she learned of a disturbing timeline.
“I found out he was due during peak RSV season, during the holidays. I still had two babies at home, and a lot of people were coming to my house for the holidays,” she said.
Johnson envisioned an urgent mission to combat the virus ravaging his children.
A friend she met on social media, Dr. Mona Amin, became a source of advice alongside her family’s regular pediatrician.
“RSV can be so different in everyone. … It presented very differently in his two different children,” Amin told PK Press Club Digital.
HIDDEN INFECTION KILLS MILLIONS OF CHILDREN EVERY YEAR AS DOCTORS WARN OF OBLIGED SYMPTOMS
USA’s Shawn Johnson in action during a gold medal run in the women’s balance beam final at the National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China. (Al Tielemans/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
“We met for the first time last year, and we really hit it off about business, about motherhood, and asking me about the medical side at the same time.”
Johnson says Amin gave him similar advice to his pediatrician.
One solution that came out of meetings with the two was the use of a drug called Beyfortus, an antibody shot given to newborns and young children to help treat RSV. It was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration on July 17, 2023.
Johnson’s message to any other parents concerned about RSV affecting their child is to “talk to your pediatrician.”
“Education is much better than no education at all,” she added.
The former gymnastics star emerged from her family’s battle with RSV with a new obsession: fighting her children’s illnesses. It even changed his reading habits.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE PK Press Club APP
Shawn Johnson, former Olympic gymnast and 2008 gold medalist (Courtesy of Shawn Johnson)
“I used to read Harry Potter novels, now I read novels about parenting. I read all about viruses and psychiatry. The biggest lifestyle change for me is that it’s my job to protect them. And I have to arm myself with knowledge,” Johnson said.
“If you were a professional athlete or an athlete, the amount of attention you give to your body over the course of your career is the same amount of attention you should give to your children. No child is the same. We’ve talked about it a lot. Every child has different needs. … I think it’s our job as parents to really find out what that is.”
