Tributes continue to pour in for a Yellowknife family after a young girl died of complications that arose from a blood infection Friday.
On Wednesday morning, 11-year-old Ava Lizotte said her knee was bothering her. She was taken to Yellowknife’s Stanton Hospital where she learned it was infected.
Within a matter of hours, the infection spread throughout her body causing her to go into septic shock.
By Wednesday night, a pediatric team was put together in Edmonton and flown to Yellowknife to stabilize her and fly her back to Edmonton for treatment.
Sarah Erasmus, a good friend of Ava’s parents, flew down the following day to be with the family while Ava received treatment.
On Friday, she says the family received the worst news possible.
“She went in for a CT in the morning,” Erasmus said. “That’s when they found that there was a bleed and she wasn’t going to wake back up again.”
Not even Ava’s doctors know what caused the infection.
“The doctors didn’t exactly know what caused it,” Erasmus said.
“They didn’t know what exactly to do and what the best treatment was but they were doing everything they could. Everyone did the right thing and everything that they could.”
In a Facebook post, Ava’s father Trevor Lizotte said he was ‘broken down’ over the sudden loss.
“I can’t believe this [has] happened,” he wrote. “RIP my most precious Ava.”
Erasmus added: “They’re taking it hour-by-hour and just trying to wrap their head around the whole situation.”
A family friend started a GoFundMe page on Thursday in support of the Lizotte’s – a day before Ava passed away. By Friday night, more than $30,900 had been raised.
Erasmus says the support has meant a great deal to the family.
“It really does help, and they’re feeling the love from everyone in the community, their family and friends,” she said. “It’s comforting for them to know that they have a lot of people on their side.”
