Utah teen hospitalized with blood clots in his brain

DRAPER, Utah — A Corner Canyon High School basketball player is at Primary Children’s Hospital with three blood clots in and near his brain.

Everest Romney’s mother says the symptoms started after getting his first COVID-19 vaccination dose. However, she insists the clots are not directly associated with the Pfizer vaccine.

“In a million years, I never expected it,” Cherie Romney said Friday night. “The worst thing, the worst thing, is to have the doctor come in and say, ‘OK, well, we found two blood clots inside his brain.’”

Doctors continue testing to find what caused the clotting.

Cherie Romney says swollen lymph nodes, neck pain and migraine headaches persisted after her son got his first COVID-19 Pfizer dose on April 21.

“From what I understand, it is not a direct cause of the shot, but rather a perfect storm. We don’t even have enough information to even say that,” said Cherie.

The Utah Department of Health tells FOX 13 the CDC is tasked with investigating possible vaccine side-effects.

After nearly 100 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, the CDC reports there hasn’t been a single related case of a blood clot forming in the brain as of April 12.

“In weighing the risk and benefits with COVID as opposed to COVID vaccinations, we strongly encourage our patients to become vaccinated because the risk is much less than the risk of the disease,” said University of Utah Health Dr. Richard Orlandi in a press conference earlier this week.

Corner Canyon Basketball Coach Evric Gray says the players are now rallying behind ‘Number 45.’

“He’s going to pull through. He will be fine. He seemed like he is in good spirits,” said Gray.

“We needed a miracle, we still still do. But we believe in miracles,” said Cherie.

On Wednesday, Everest was released from the ICU but still has a long way to go. His mom says he’s dedicated to playing ball this summer but it’s unclear how long he will be in the hospital.