13-Year-Old COVID Patient Suffers Cardiac Arrest

Doctors say Alina Valenzuela, no on life support, suffered no underlying conditions. KPRC's Jacob Rascon reports.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (KPRC/NBC News) — A Texas teenager is fighting for her life after contracting COVID-19 and suffering cardiac arrest.

Doctors performed a second surgery on 13-year-old Alina Valenzuela on Monday.

On January 10, the teenager complained of chest pain and the family took her to an emergency room near their home in Pearsall, Texas where they say she tested positive for COVID-19 and was sent home.

The next day, Valenzuela complained of chest pain again and fainted. Paramedics took her to a hospital in San Antonio.

“I get so overwhelmed,” Valenzuela’s older sister, Leticia, said. “I’m just praying and I have so much faith that she’s going to be healed.”

On Tuesday, Valenzuela went into cardiac arrest. Doctors eventually determined that the teenager needed special care at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.

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