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Shawn Johnson remembers the night he took his young son to the emergency room.
The American gymnastics hero who won Olympic gold on the balance beam at the 2008 Beijing Games suddenly became the mother of a very young patient.
“I was 1 year old. Everything got worse very quickly. We ended up in the emergency room. I had trouble breathing,” Johnson told Pak Gazette Digital.
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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 in Beijing on August 19, 2008. (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)
Their son, Jett James East, had respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a highly contagious virus that infects the lungs and airways. Her first-born daughter, Drew Hazel East, contracted 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 troubling timeline.
“I found out that she was going to be born in the peak season of RSV, around the holidays. I still had two babies at home and a lot of people came to visit us during the holidays,” she said.
Johnson was facing an urgent mission to tackle the virus affecting his children.
A friend she had met on social media, Dr. Mona Amin, became a source of guidance alongside her family’s regular pediatrician.
“RSV can look very different in different people… It presented very differently in their two different children,” Amin told Pak Gazette Digital.
HIDDEN INFECTION KILLS MILLIONS OF CHILDREN EACH YEAR AS DOCTORS WARN OF OVERLOOKED SYMPTOMS
USA’s Shawn Johnson in action during a gold medal in the women’s balance beam final at the National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China. (Al Tielemans/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
“We met last year and really connected over business, motherhood, asking me questions about medical issues.”
Johnson says Amin gave him advice similar to that of his pediatrician.
One of the solutions that emerged from meetings with the two was the use of a medication called Beyfortus, an antibody injection given to newborns and young children to help treat RSV. It was approved by the US 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,” he added.
The former gymnastics star has emerged from her family’s battle with RSV with a new obsession with fighting her children’s illnesses. He has even changed his reading habits.
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Shawn Johnson, former Olympic gymnast and 2008 gold medalist (Courtesy of Shawn Johnson)
“I used to read ‘Harry Potter’ novels, now I read parenting novels. I read everything about viruses and psychiatry. The biggest adjustment in my lifestyle is that my job is to protect them. And I need to arm myself with knowledge,” Johnson said.
“The amount of attention that if you were a professional athlete or an athlete that you would put on your body during your career is the same amount of attention that you should put on your children. No child is the same. We’ve talked a lot about this. Every child has different needs…I think it’s our job as parents to really find out what they are.”
