An Ohio preschooler has been taken off life support just days after falling ill with a virus initially thought to be the common cold. Four-year-old Maisie was taken to an urgent care after she came down with a stuffy nose and cough last week.
When she grew lethargic on Saturday, her parents rushed her to a local emergency room before she was admitted to Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland. There, she was placed in a medically induced coma. Doctors discovered bleeding in her brain and determined that she’d suffered a stroke.
Just two days after arriving at the hospital, Maisie was pronounced dead. According to her uncle, Michael Brigadier, the four-year-old had come down with the human metapneumovirus, an RNA virus that commonly presents like the cold or flu.
Bragadier, the brother of Maisie’s mother, Christin, organized a GoFundMe on behalf of the family to help cover basic costs like gas and food. ‘I wish I could deliver a happy ending to this story,’ he wrote on March 26, hours after Maisie’s death. ‘I wish I knew the right words to say to ease my loved ones’ pains and all those who were touched by Maisie.
‘Around 11 am today Maisie passed away. Typing these words hours after are still so surreal. I’m in disbelief that this could happen to such a sweet family.’ He described his niece as ‘caring, smart, fun and loving,’ adding that she ‘exhibited the best traits you could ask for out of a person.’
Christin Brigadier posted an update to Facebook on March 24 saying Maisie’s condition was deteriorating. ‘Her kidneys are not working well, but it’s not the major concern right now. Nothing is really working well,’ she wrote.
Christin explained that clear fluid was leaking from her daughter’s nose and mouth, and her body was swelling. ‘She has a spot on her brain scan that could have been a stroke or brain bleeding. They took her off some sedation and paralytics to see if she could move her arms/legs to rule out things but it hasn’t worked,’ she wrote. A ‘heart problem’ arose amid her treatment, so Maisie underwent a procedure to relieve pressure in one of her ventricles.
On Monday, Christin posted another update after learning that her daughter had experienced a stroke on the right side of her brain. ‘They will be going in, removing her skull on the right side, releasing the pressure and eventually get her back together,’ she wrote. ‘With how sick Maisie is she could pass away during surgery.’
She explained that Maisie was supposed to be put on kidney dialysis, but ‘things just started to spin out of control.’