Photo: GoFundMe
A Florida teen’s life was tragically cut short when she contracted mononucleosis, her family says.
“Your body is supposed to be able to fight it off. It was too far, too fast,” he told the local news station.
Delfs said the family took her to the doctor when the teen’s condition worsened. Though physicians ran a variety of tests to determine what was wrong, no formal diagnosis was made, according to the dad.
“One evening, not too long ago, she started throwing up just constantly. We got very nervous, so the next morning at 7 a.m. we said we’re going to take her to the hospital,” he remembered.
Ariana Rae Delfs.GoFundMe
There, he said, Ariana started showingmore severe symptoms, including loss of feeling in her limbs and slurred speech.
“She got up to go to the bathroom,” he said. “All of a sudden she couldn’t feel part of her legs, and she felt like her legs were just giving out.”
“Her words were very slurred at times. She was just talking gibberish, and the damage was already beginning at that point, which we just didn’t know,” he continued.
GoFundMe
“She actually had mono and Epstein-Barr, which is mononucleosis, which is the sleeping disease,” her father said.
Ariana was in the hospital for only three days before she was taken off life support, Delfs told the outlet.
“Her brain swelled to the point where it couldn’t function and brain damage did occur,” he said. “And we just made the decision that it was time to let her go.”
The Delfs family has set up aGoFundMe campaignin memory of their daughter, hoping to raise money to fund “some of her passions, including music and arts programs for children, helping animals and making the world a better place,” a description of the fundraiser reads.
Ariana’s father has since signed up to become an organ donor after learning that his daughter was one as well,News4Jaxreports. He also hopes that Ariana’s passing will inspire others to become organ donors as well.
source: people.com
