EUSTIS, Florida -- A 6-year-old boy who was scratched by a sick bat died Sunday at a hospital after contracting rabies, reports say.
According to NBC News, the boy's father, Henry Roque, found the bat living in the family's home and managed to capture it. He put the bat in a bucket on the front porch and told his son, Ryker, not to touch it "under any circumstances."
"So, apparently he put his hand in there and touched it and he said it only scratched him," Roque tells NBC News, "so I frantically googled it real quick and it says to wash his hands with soap, hot water for five minutes."
Roque says he did not take his son to the hospital because he cried when told he would have to receive shots, a decision he now regrets.
A week later, the boy complained of having a headache and that his fingers were numb. Roque said he though his son might have been hurt playing, but doctors immediately became concerned when he told him about the scratch from the bat.
He said doctors told him that once rabies symptoms emerge, it's almost impossible to stop and nearly always lethal.
The Orlando Sentinel reports that deputies with the Lake County Sheriff's Department went to the Roque home two weeks ago to determine if the family's pets, a dog and a cat, also had rabies. The animals have been tested but the results were unknown, officials tell the Sentinel.
An experimental treatment called the Milwaukee protocol was unable to save Ryker, although it has had success with other patients, reports say.
"That's my buddy, he's my boy, he's my everything," Roque tells NBC News. "He tells all his friends 'My daddy will fix anything.' I can't fix that. I've never loved anything or anybody so much in my life. Ever."
A fundraising site has been set up to raise money for Ryker's medical bills.