Mother warning others of dangers of ticks after daughter suffers tick paralysis

GRENADA, Miss. – A Grenada, Mississippi mother's warning to other parents after her daughter suffered tick paralysis has been shared thousands of times on Facebook.

Jessica Griffin posted to Facebook on Wednesday saying that her daughter Kailyn woke up that morning unable to walk and struggling to speak.

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Griffin's Facebook post read:

We had a bit of a scare this morning! Kailyn woke up and couldn’t walk! I was just thinking that her legs were asleep until I noticed that she couldn’t hardly talk! After tons of blood work and a CT of the head UMMC has ruled it as tick paralysis! PLEASE for the love of god check your kids for ticks! It’s more common in children than it is adults! We are being admitted to the hospital for observation and we’re hoping her balance gets straightened out! Prayers for this baby! Scary is a UNDERSTATEMENT! She has been such a champ throughout this whole ordeal!

Griffin said she rushed her daughter to the hospital where doctors diagnosed her with tick paralysis. According to the American Lyme Disease Foundation, tick paralysis occurs when an engorged, egg-laden female tick transmits a neurotoxin to its host.

The foundation reports that tick paralysis in humans is rare and typically occurs in children 10 years old or younger. Symptoms normally disappear when the tick is completely removed.

Griffin followed up with a photo of her daughter walking out of the hospital later that evening.

"Everything is completely back to normal," Griffin wrote in the follow-up post.

Griffin's initial post garnered more than 371,000 shares and 96,000 likes.