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Shawn Johnson remembers the night she took her infant son to the emergency room.
The American gymnastics hero who won Olympic gold on the balance beam at the 2008 Beijing Games was suddenly the mother of a very young patient.
“He was 1. It took a turn for the worst very quickly. We ended up in the ER. He was struggling with his breathing,” Johnson told Pakinomist Digital.
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USA’s Shawn Johnson, left, and compatriot Nastia Liukin stand on the podium after the women’s balance beam final in the artistic gymnastics event at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing on August 19, 2008. (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)
Her son, Jett James East, had respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a highly contagious virus that infects the lungs and airways. Her firstborn, daughter Drew Hazel East, caught a milder version of it 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 he was going to be in peak season for RSV around the holidays. I still had two babies at home and a lot of people come over for the holidays,” she said.
Johnson stared down an urgent mission to address the virus plaguing her children.
A friend she had met on social media, Dr. Mona Amin, became a source of guidance along with her family’s regular pediatrician.
“RSV can look so different in everyone… It presented very differently in her two different children,” Amin told Pakinomist Digital.
HIDDEN INFECTION KILLS MILLIONS OF CHILDREN EVERY YEAR, DOCTORS WARN OF OVERLOOKED SYMPTOMS
USA’s Shawn Johnson in action during a gold medal win in the women’s balance beam final at the National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China. (Al Tielemans/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
“We first met last year and we just really connected over business, motherhood and asking me questions on the side about the medical stuff.”
Johnson says Amin gave her advice that echoed her pediatrician’s.
One of the solutions that came out of meetings with both was the use of a drug 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 other parents concerned about RSV affecting their child is to “talk to your pediatrician.”
“Education is so much better than none at all,” she added.
The former gymnastics star has emerged from her family’s battle with RSV with a new obsession to fight diseases in her children. It has even changed her reading habits.
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Former Olympic gymnast and 2008 gold medalist Shawn Johnson (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 lifestyle adjustment for me is that it’s my job to protect them. And I have to arm myself with knowledge,” Johnson said.
“The amount of attention if you were a professional athlete or an athlete that you put into your body in your career is the same amount of attention that you should put into your children. No child is the same. We’ve talked about this a lot. Every single child has different needs. … I think it’s our job as parents to really find what that is.”
