On Saturday January 20, 2001 our 5-year-old daughter Tiana, began feeling sick.

We went out to dinner that evening and she didn’t eat at all. She said she was tired and just wanted to go to sleep. That night she had a fever and we started giving her Tylenol. Sunday morning we showered together and I took her into work with me. She was complaining of pain in her hip and her fever hadn’t stopped. That afternoon we took her to the San Dimas Hospital emergency room.

After waiting several hours the doctor saw her and said it was the flu. She didn’t have a sore throat, a runny nose or a cough. We told the doctor that she had been complaining about pain in her hip and he said, "it’s just the flu, that’s been going around". He said to alternate with Tylenol and Motrin every four hours, and that would help with the pain and fever

. Her fever continued throughout the night and she vomited a couple of times. The next morning I took her to our regular doctor. They examined her and sent us to San Dimas Hospital for x-rays on her hip. Doctor said it might be toxic synovitis, which is liquid around the bone and is very painful, he said it would flush out of her system within 4-5 days. We had the x-rays taken and were told the results would take approximately 24 hrs.

Tuesday I called the doctor but results were not in. Tiana’s fever persisted and the doctor said to continue with the Tylenol, Motrin, and lots of liquids. She hadn’t eaten since Sunday and was extremely thirsty. I called several times on Tuesday for those results, and time after time nothing.

They said they would call me, but I never received a call. Wednesday I noticed her right arm was swollen and when I pulled up her sleeve I saw red spots on her skin. By now she couldn’t even sit up on her own. All she would do was moan and say that her leg hurt.

On Wednesday I took her to the doctor’s office again and as soon as they saw her they rushed me across the street to San Dimas Hosp. emergency. When they took her clothes off there was a mark on her inner thigh, like a bruise. They asked me how she got that, but it was the first time I had seen it. I recalled showering with her on Monday and Tuesday, I checked her leg and body for any bruises, cuts or scratches but I didn’t see any. She was in shock and her blood pressure was low. Everybody was running around working on her.

They started several IV’s, taking blood and giving her different kinds of medicines trying to stabilize her. She was really scared and kept calling for me, so they had me stand by her side, all I could do was to hold her hand and tell her that everything would be okay. Her dad arrived at the hospital a couple of hours later and when she saw him, she gave him a big smile through the oxygen mask she was wearing, and you could tell she was relieved and relaxed that he was there. They called Pomona Valley Medical to transport her there because they have a children’s center.

By the time we saw her again at Pomona Valley that bruise on her thigh was spreading and becoming like a blister. She was unconscious and had been intubated to help with her breathing and so they can work on her. She received several blood transfusions. My husband and I would go in her room throughout the night to talk to her, let her know she was a tough girl and tell her how much we loved her.

On Thursday a surgeon was called to see her, they thought it might be NF. By this time the infection had spread across her abdomen on to her left side and back, down her leg and up her arm. She was transferred to Loma Linda Medical Center by helicopter that afternoon.

They had a couple of surgeons there that had seen this disease before. One of them met us as they brought her in and right away confirmed that it was NF. He said he had never seen a case this bad. They took her into surgery for debridement. After 5 hours of surgery, they had removed over 65% of tissue, fat and muscle through her entire body.

She was then taken into an oxygen chamber that pushes oxygen into your body by pressure. She was brought back to her room around midnight. She was to rest a few hours and they would operate once more. At 3am on Friday all the alarms went off. Tiana had gone into septic shock.

All of her major organs were failing and there was nothing anyone could do to help. We stayed by her side, holding her and running our fingers through her hair until 5:10 am on Friday when she took her last breath. She was our tough little girl. I don’t remember her crying all week long even thou she was going through all this pain and medical work.

She is greatly loved and missed by her FAMILY and friends.

ttippett@laavengers.com (Todd) or patt@ticketmaster.com (Pat)