Rhianna Benson
Tributes have this week been pouring in to honour the tragically short life of four-year-old Ohio youngster Maisie Schmidt, who passed away after doctors believed she was battling a common cold.
The Strongsville youngster came down with a mild cough in the days before her heartbreaking death, and had a blocked nose amongst other classic symptoms of a flu.
Naturally, her father Patric took his little girl to her local GP to be checked out on Saturday afternoon, expecting the visit to last a matter of minutes.
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And after the medical staff reassured him that Maisie wasn't suffering anything too serious, they advised him to take her home to rest and Patric's initial concerns were understandably put to rest.
Little did he and Maisie's mother know, that their daughter had contracted human metapneumovirus (known as HMVP) and only had a matter of days to live.
"We got told it was just a common cold, just take her home, lots of fluids, and things of that nature," Patric told Cleveland 19 prior to Maisie's passing.
By Saturday evening, Maisie's symptoms had drastically worsened, and she became increasing more lethargic, holding onto her mother and father as much as she could.
Worried for their little girl, the parents rushed her to the emergency room before being transported to the Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland.
It was here that disaster struck, and after her health rapidly declined, medics made the decision to place the toddler into a medically induced coma.
Patric told press: "It’s not what you expect. We just thought it was a common cold and that we’d be taking her home the same day [and] never thought we’d be down here."
On the following Monday, doctors made the agonising discovery that Maisie had suffered a stroke in her sleep.
"She went in for a CT scan," the heartbroken father recalled. "They said that there was some bleeding on the brain, so they wanted to get a scan of that and in the process of doing so they found that she actually had a very large stroke on the right side of her brain."
Maisie's brain had swollen to such an extent that doctors had to perform emergency surgery to remove part of it in an attempt to save the youngster.
A GoFundMe page which has since been set up by her uncle Mike in order to aid her family's medical bill payments explains that she was then put on life support and placed into a medical-induced coma for 'several months'.
"She is one of the most lovable people that you’ll ever meet," Patric also said. "She’s so smart and so willing to help anyone and she wants everyone to love her just like she loves everyone else."
It was also on this page that the subsequent news of Maisie's death was broken, devastating the thousands of followers of her story.
"I wish I could deliver a happy ending to this story," Mike penned on Tuesday. "I wish I knew the right words to say to ease my loved ones pains and all those who were touched by Maisie. Around 11am today Maisie passed away.
"For those of you who were blessed by knowing Maisie you would know how caring, smart, fun and loving she was.
"She exhibited the best traits you could ask for out of a person." The family thanked everyone for their love, support and donations during their difficult time."