A 13-year-old girl from Augusta, Georgia, died of undiagnosed leukemia just hours after complaining of a headache.
Julia Chavez complained of an ear infection and headache over the weekend and was prescribed antibiotics by urgent care doctors in Grovetown.
The teen was a student at Harlem Middle School in Columbia County. She collapsed on Sunday.
Chavez was then transported to a hospital in Augusta where CT scans and bloodwork revealed she had leukemia.
“She had bleeding in her brain, lungs, stomach... everywhere,” her father, Dennis Lee Chavez, wrote on social media.
“That’s where we found out she had leukemia. It came on so hard and so fast. Doctors told us there was no way we could have known.”
The teen died at 1.35am on Monday, just hours after she was admitted.
Her grandfather, Ernie Randall, called her “perfect” and “best little girl”.
“My granddaughter was the best little girl,” Mr Randall was quoted as saying by the Augusta Chronicle.
“God says that nobody is perfect, but I’d put a test to that one by her being perfect.”
The teenager’s mother Renna Randall said they were shocked to know she had leukemia. “We never knew she had it. She was a bubbly, bright, beautiful girl. She never had more than a sniffle and she’s never been hospitalised for anything since she was born.”
Her father said: “When she would get a bruise, we would ask how she got it, and she would say, ‘I don’t know’ and shrug it off.”
Julia’s teacher Caroline Pinkston called the teen the “kindest, most big-hearted child I think I’ve ever met”.
Harlem Middle School announced counselling will be available for students following the death of Julia Chavez.
In a letter to students and parents, the principal of the school John Bush wrote: “I want to encourage any students who may be struggling with this death, or perhaps even with the death of a family member or friend, to talk with us.”
