A 11-year-old girl who was hospitalized from a rare brain-eating amoeba died this week.
Hannah Collins died on Aug. 5 at 10:20 pm. The Centers For Disease Control (CDC) previously reported that a South Carolina patient had contracted the disease after swimming in the Edisto River in Charleston County.
Naegleria fowleri, also referred to as the “brain-eating amoeba,” is inhaled through the nose, after which it enters the brain and begins to destroy tissue.
“This organism occurs naturally and is all around us and is present in many warm water lakes, rivers and streams, but infection in humans is very rare. In fact, there have been fewer than 40 cases reported nationwide in the past ten years”, says the CDC.
According to the Beaufort Gazette, Collins was a beauty pageant winner and a student at Riverview Charter School.
A statement from Collins’s family says:
“Hannah loved life, her family and friends and, although this is not the outcome we wished for, our sweet girl has joined the angels, and we know she will always be close by, watching over us.”
The “Prayers for Hannah Katherine“ Facebook page added in a post,
“My beautiful angel Hannah. I feel her with me as I try to go through my day. I pray she gives me the strength to conquer the hard days ahead of me. My baby girl will always be with me and I will try to find comfort in the fact I will one day be united with her in her new home, Heaven.”
A GoFundMe page set up to help raise funds for Hannah’s family has raised over $30,000 so far.
