A Kentucky toddler spent a week in a coma after contracting Rocky Mountain spotted fever from a tick bite.
Jackson Oblisk awoke on his second birthday on Friday and is still recovering from his battle with the rare, life-threatening infection.
Rocky Mountain spotted fever is so rare that Jackson's mother, Kayla, was skeptical her son could possible be the one in 20,000 people bitten by a tick that carries the disease.
But tick-borne diseases are on the rise across the US, meaning more children like Jackson could be at risk.
Jackson Oblisk, now two, contracted Rocky Mountain spotted fever, leaving him with a rash all over his body, a high fever and whole-body swelling. He awoke from a coma on Friday
Jackson's family didn't initially think too much of it when he was bitten by a tick.
They simply plucked the bug off, assuming that was the end of it.
But soon the little boy, just under two years old, spiked a fever.
He wouldn't eat or speak and became increasingly lethargic, weak and hyper-sensitive to touch.
'We couldn't get him to do anything, if you touched him he screamed,' Kayla told ABC.
When his fever hit 105 degrees and broke out in a pink dotted rash all over his body, Kayla was sure something was very wrong with her son.
Doctors suspected Rocky Mountain spotted fever, but it's an exceptionally rare disease, so Kayla wasn't immediately convinced that could be what was ailing her son.
There are only about 3,000 cases of Rocky Mountain spotted fever a year in the US, and they're typically concentrated in five states.
Over 60 percent of people diagnosed with the disease are in Arkansas, Missouri, North Carolina and Tennessee.
Two types of ticks - the American dog tick and the Rocky Mountain wood tick - are the primary carriers of the disease and they are prevalent in the five hot spots for Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
Jackson became so sensitive that his mother, Kayla (right) said he could barley be touched without screaming in pain
