Calani Sol

Hello Everyone, This is Charles and Rocio Cunningham. We are asking for your help and to listen to our beautiful daughter Calani’s Story.

Calani went into the ER at Aurora Hospital on Sunday, February 20, 2022 where she was diagnosed positive with Covid. We were sent home with instructions to give our baby Pedialyte, Tylenol, and to follow up with her Pediatrician.

February 21, 2022, we followed up with the Pediatrician and got sent home again with the same instructions.

February 22, 2022, She was rushed to the ER at Childrens Hospital in Milwaukee, WI because we were concerned that her condition was declining. Her breathing was abnormal along with her not eating, sleeping, and continuous crying/discomfort.

*Here is where the nightmare begins*

Childrens Hospital continued to treat her for COVID by giving her Tylenol and they connected Calani to an High-Flow oxygen machine to help with her breathing. They evaluated which floor to place our daughter on based on her condition, which was between the ICU or the “12th floor.” She was moved to the 12th floor by 6AM Wednesday morning with minimal assistance during her stay on the 12th floor. Mom & Dad continued to advocate for their daughter because her condition was not improving. She was still restless, not drinking (milk or pedialyte), still crying, fever of 102 had not gone down, her breathing was irregular and she had not urinated or had a bowel since Monday morning.

According to the nurses and physicians on the 12th floor, this was all a normal response for patients with COVID. Our daughters neck was swollen and hard to the touch by 11am that morning. Again, “normal” for COVID and they based her condition off symptoms they’ve seen in other Covid patients.

By 5pm on Wednesday, our daughter was transferred to the ICU where she coded. A breathing machine was inserted and tubing was placed to drain bacteria from both of the her lungs. She was also placed on an ECMO (life support) machine to help support her heart and lungs. When the ECMO machine was placed through her neck, large amounts of puss drained out. The fluid from her neck and lungs were sent for a cultural sample, which came back positive for MRSA.

Once she was stabilized, they were able to perform a CT scan. The CT scan showed severe injury to her brain due to the lack of blood and oxygen flowing to her brain.

Although our daughter was positive for COVID, the MRSA was left untreated for so long that it became very aggressive and ultimately her death sentence.

We are pursuing legal action to hold the hospital accountable for the negligent/malpractice that led to our daughters death. We also hope that our story serves as a wake up call to medical professionals everywhere to not tunnel vision on one particular diagnosis, even in the middle of a pandemic.

To parents, please don’t allow them to tunnel vision on COVID when your babies are sick and always always demand more for your child!!!