Mom credits TikTok for helping save her young son’s life
GILBERT, Ariz. (KPHO/Gray News) - A Phoenix-area mother says a social media platform helped her recognize severe symptoms when it came to an illness and her son.
Seven-year-old Nicholas McCollum is full of life. But he was not dancing and jumping last week. Instead, he was dealing with his second bout with rhabdomyolysis. He first dealt with it in February.
“His fever was about 103-104 degrees, and that morning he said he couldn’t walk,” his mother, Jennifer McCullom, said.
She took her son to Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, where he was diagnosed with the flu.
They were just about to be discharged when Jennifer McCullom said she remembered videos she saw on TikTok.
She says parents were saying their kids had complications from influenza B, and to have your child get what’s called a “CK blood test” if they are having severe muscle pain and/or dark urine.
“They were going to send me home, and I said I want his CK levels checked,” the mother said. “I got looked at like it was so weird to ask for CK levels for a child because this diagnosis is usually only in athletes and cross-fitters.”
According to Dr. Rahul Chawla, an ER doctor at Banner Health, rhabdomyolysis releases toxins into the blood, and if the levels get too high, it can lead to kidney failure.
Nicholas has since returned home and says he is feeling much better following the health scare.
Copyright 2025 KPHO via Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
