NATIONAL CITY, Calif. (KGTV) – Loved ones are grieving the loss of 11-year-old Nicole Grande, who died after a battle with bacterial meningitis.
Nicole's sisters, Lezly and Nadia, said the 5th grader at Valencia Park Elementary first started feeling unwell two Thursdays ago. She complained of stiffness in her body and pain in her head, telling her family she had just slept funny.
Eventually, she got the chills, and the stiff neck and shoulders grew worse.
"You would touch her the slightest bit, and she would flinch and cry very loudly that it hurt," Nadia Huerta said.
Two days after Nicole first fell ill, her family brought her to the emergency room. She soon became unresponsive and had to be intubated. Days later, she was diagnosed with streptococcal meningitis, a bacterial infection that causes swelling of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
Nicole never woke up.
Three days after she arrived at the ER, Nicole was declared brain dead.
Nicole's sisters described her as a kind, caring and helpful girl who loved drawing, arts and crafts, and playing the piano.
Doctors are unsure where Nicole contracted the bacteria. Her sisters said it could have been from "a sneeze, cough, or sharing a drink."
Family members say Nicole had received the meningitis vaccine.
A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help with funeral expenses.
In a poignant turn of events, the family received an emotional call right after our interview, learning that Nicole's donated organs had been transplanted into five recipients, including a 12-year-old child who received her heart.
“I know she would be happy… We know her life is being carried on by others,” said Lezly Huerta.
Nadia added, "I'm glad another family gets to be happy and not go through the grief we did."
