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Salem, OR (WCPO) — A Salem mother is reeling after she lost her child to a rare infection. Now, she wants to raise awareness about her tragedy to prevent another baby’s death.
Evianna Rose was Ginger McCall’s first and only child with her husband, and she was gone too soon. Evianna was just seven weeks old when she showed signs of being sick on March 15.
“She was making this really terrible mewing, moaning noise. Like a kind of repetitive, it was like a weak cry,” said McCall.
McCall says she rushed Evianna to the emergency room at Salem Health, telling doctors she herself had tested positive for Group B Strep (GBS) while pregnant.
McCall tells FOX 12 her daughter was given a saline drip and Tylenol, then was discharged.
“I will never forget the nurse saying to me, ‘This is her immune system getting stronger. This is her getting stronger.’ And it wasn’t. It was her dying,” said McCall of Salem Health. “Every minute that they delayed, every minute that they didn’t conduct the tests that they should’ve conducted, every minute that we spent driving between places. That mattered. It mattered.”
After heading to the pediatrician, then back to Salem Health’s emergency room, Evianna was rushed to Doernbecher Children’s Hospital.
In Portland, McCall says she learned Evianna developed meningitis and sepsis from late-onset Group B Strep, a fast-acting type of bacteria.
McCall says doctors told her this is what led to Evianna’s deteriorating health and eventually killed her on March 17.
“They handed her to us so that I could hold her when she died. And she died at 6:08 a.m. that morning,” said McCall.
McCall tells FOX 12 she wants others to hear her story and know the signs of late-onset GBS and meningitis.
Salem Health provided a statement to FOX 12 Sunday:
“This is a heartbreaking loss, and Salem Health offers its deepest condolences. Due to HIPAA and the patient’s protected health information, Salem Health cannot comment on this individual case.”
McCall recommends other parents read about the symptoms of babies with GBS, including listening to the sounds of a baby with the infection at this website here: groupbstrepinternational.org/recognize-the-symptoms-of-infection.html.
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