5-Year-Old Lower Twp Girl Dies of Meningitis

A little girl named "Lil", who was scheduled to start kindergarten at David C. Douglass Memorial School in the coming days, has died from a rare case of bacterial meningitis.

Lilyana Fernandez, 5, of Erma, had appeared perfectly healthy before beginning to complain about an earache on Wednesday, Aug. 12, according to the Press of Atlantic City.

A local pediatric center prescribed eardrops for the girl. By Saturday, her condition had worsened, and her mother, a nurse in Cape May Court House, took the girl to Cape Regional Medical Center where she was treated with antibiotics and fluids and discharged. Sunday, Lil had become much more sick, losing her equilibrium and developing a drooping condition in her left eye.

Her mother rushed her back to the hospital, which fearing the child may have suffered a stroke, airlifted her to Philadelphia. That night she underwent emergency brain surgery the relieve the pressure from the fluid on her brain.

Although doctors thought the surgery went well, Lil never regained consciousness, staying in a coma on life support until she died last Friday, Aug. 21.

The child had been vaccinated for bacterial meningitis, but not for the rare strain of streptococcus meningitis that is believed to have caused her death.

Lil's funeral is Friday at 3pm at the First Assembly of God Church in Lower Township.

A go fund me Page has been set up to assist the family with funeral and medical expenses. This page also tells the story of Lil's short life and sickness in great detail.  It is an absolutely heartbreaking story.