Girl, 2, on life support after unseen danger infected her during family trip to pretty lake
A two-year-old girl is on life support and battling kidney failure after a family trip to a picturesque Oklahoma lake ended up as a nightmare vacation.
Elizabeth Faircloth, 2, was left fighting for her life after she contracted three strains of E. coli which her parent believe to have come from swimming in Keystone Lake earlier this month.
Keystone Lake, a reservoir in Oklahoma, is a popular destination for swimming, boating, water sports, and fishing.
The child is now medically paralyzed, on dialysis, and suffering from multiple organ damage as she fights for her life.
Elizabeth's family shared heartbreaking photos of their daughter hooked up to breathing tubes and medical monitors in the hospital.
She is battling Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome (HUS), a rare life-threatening complication from E. coli that can cause severe kidney failure, liver damage, and brain injury, according to a GoFundMe campaign launched by relatives,
'Hi, my name is Grayson and this is my sister Elizabeth,' her sister wrote in the GoFundMe. 'She is currently fighting kidney failure.'
'At the moment, doctors are trying to get a toxin out of her body, which is constantly attacking her liver, kidneys, and other organs.'
Her sister lovingly described Elizabeth as a 'great, crazy kid' who 'loves meeting new people.'
'She is fighting every day to stay with us,' she wrote. 'She is a great, crazy kid and loves meeting new people, so please help out. A little can go a big way for us.
The fundraiser has reached $8,248 raised of its $10K goal so far.
A relative shared an update regarding the child's condition on Facebook this week, with positive news saying she is 'awake and off the tube.'
'She is awake and off the tube but there was a very scary breathing issue after they took her off the tube yesterday,' Kelly Faircloth shared on Facebook.
'They got that squared away and she is in and out with her sedating meds, she continued.
She explained that Elizabeth is now fighting an infection in the lungs.
'Now she has an infection in the lungs which they have to use antibiotics to stop,' she wrote. 'But antibiotics excellerate [sic] the three Ecoli strands HUS, so it's a monitoring game of chasing our ass.'
'Still a long and unknown road but our baby is still fighting!'
'It's a nightmare, and it happened so fast,' her mother, Suzanne Faircloth, told KOTV. 'Within like a week, we're here.'
'It blows our minds, because we've never even heard of anything like this ever happening,' Suzanne said. 'We've heard of E. coli - but usually in hamburgers.'
'They are working night and day - the staff is amazing - just to keep her stable,' Faircloth said. 'It kind of feels like you're drowning and you get brief moments of air just enough to keep you alive, but there's no end in sight.'
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