We seek reasons for everything that happens to us and around us. But some incidents are plain inexplicable, like the death of this young girl from Brailov, central Ukraine.
The perfectly healthy 8-year-old Elmira Bondarenko passed away due to a stroke after losing consciousness and falling into her teacher’s arms.
‘Healthy’ girl, 8, dies of a stroke after collapsing into teacher’s arms and two hour battle to save her in classroom https://t.co/JZlmsqQrGO
— The US Sun (@TheSunUS) October 20, 2020
The incident occurred a few hours after her father Sergey Kupchishin dropped her off at school. According to The Sun, the girl started feeling unwell during break time. According to her teachers, she complained of an acute headache minutes before collapsing.
The school principal Olena Ivasenko said, “The girl walked out of the classroom when she felt a strong sudden headache and complained about it. Minutes later, the child began to lose consciousness and her teacher managed to catch her in the arms.”
The teachers immediately called for an ambulance while the school nurse performed CPR on the schoolgirl.
Needless to say, the father was heartbroken. Recollecting the last moments he spent with his girl, he said, “She was fine and happy on our way to school that morning.” Continuing, he said, “Then, a few hours later, her teacher called and said she had got sick.” The moment he came to know he rushed to the hospital.
“I ran to school and saw my girl lying motionless on a table with paramedics trying to resuscitate her,” Sergey said. “I rushed to her. Tried to help.”
The medics at the hospital tried to restart her heart desperately for 2 hours. They performed CPR, used a defibrillator, and gave the girl an adrenaline injection but it was all in vain.
The girl’s family is shocked. They said that she had never complained of headaches. Even the family doctor confirmed that Elmira underwent a medical checkup once a year and never reported any health issues. However, postmortem reports show that the girl died of a stroke caused by a blood clot in the brain. Elmira’s heartbroken father collected his daughter’s personal belongings from the school on October 19, 2020, a few days after her burial.
Olena Bondarenko, the local health authority spokeswoman, said: “The girl suffered from cerebral venous thrombosis but medics did not identify the disease in time. In this case, the ischemic stroke could be triggered by a virus infection, stress, or physical exercises.”
Elmira’s acute headache was a symptom of a stroke. According to Cleveland Clinic, other symptoms include vision loss or double vision, loss of balance, difficulty speaking or understanding others, seizures on one side of the body, dizziness, vomiting, and drowsiness. All of these symptoms can be mistaken for more common ailments. So, the best idea would be to take your child to the hospital immediately and get them checked out by a physician.
However, the way Elmira’s teachers responded is the most prudent. You should call 911 if you suspect your child or anyone else is having a stroke.
