A 5-year-old girl in Massachusetts with a rare brain infection returned home from the hospital Friday, her family said, after strangers helped raise close to $200,000 to cover medical expenses.
Sophia Garabedian received a diagnosis of the mosquito borne virus Eastern equine encephalitis in early September, according to a GoFundMe page created by friends of her family, and thousands of donors have flooded the fund-raising page with contributions in the month since.
An update from the Garabedian family posted on the page said Sophia’s recovery is still in progress, but the return to her home in the Boston suburb of Sudbury represents a “major milestone.”
Sophia had checked into Boston Children’s Hospital on Sept. 3 after severe flu-like symptoms gave way to what appeared to be a seizure, according to the GoFundMe page. She later moved to Spaulding Rehabilitation Center.
“Sophia has been so courageous through this entire ordeal and made enormous progress from those terrifying first hours and days to waking up, breathing on her own, first words and steps and now at a point where she can go home,” the Garabedian family said in a statement. “At this time, we just look forward to bringing Sophia home and beginning to return to as normal lives as possible. Her story and recovery is still ongoing and our focus is there and will continue be so.”
Sophia is still working on improving her movement and cognitive functions, her family said.
The GoFundMe page had received more than $190,000 in donations as of Saturday night.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has recorded three deaths in the state from EEE this year, according to The Boston Globe.
Instances of the disease have spiked recently — before this summer, the state hadn’t seen any human cases since 2013. About 30% of cases are fatal.