A Nevada family is mourning the death of their toddler. Two-year-old Woodrow Bundy died on July 18 after fighting a battle with Naegleria fowleri, also known as a brain-eating amoeba. He contracted the rare infection after swimming in Ash Spring, Nevada.
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"Woodrow Turner Bundy returned victoriously to our father in heaven at 2:56 am," his mom, Briana Bundy, wrote in a Facebook post shared on July 18.
She wrote that "He fought 7 days," adding that the longest time any person had survived with the virus was three days.
"I knew I had the strongest son in the world," she added.
Family friends sharing the story said Woodrow started experiencing "flu-like symptoms" and his parents immediately took him to the hospital.
Initially assuming his symptoms were connected to meningitis, doctors began treating the boy accordingly. But then they discovered that they were from a brain-eating amoeba.
The amoeba, also known as Naegleria fowleri, is a "single-celled living organism that can cause a rare and almost always fatal infection of the brain called primary amebic meningoencephalitis," according to People. Only three people get it yearly, but they almost always die.
The amoeba lives in soil and warm fresh water such as "lakes, rivers, and hot springs," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It can also be found in pools that are minimally chlorinated or poorly maintained.
It is called "brain-eating" because it can cause a brain infection when water containing the amoeba goes up the nose.
Symptoms usually start one to nine days after the amoeba is ingested. They include severe headaches, fever, nausea, and vomiting in the first stage, and stiff neck, seizures, altered mental status, hallucinations, and a coma in the second stage, according to the CDC.
"I am so proud of the spirit Woodrow is," Briana Bundy wrote on Facebook.
"He lived life so aggressively. He never wasted a moment. He found joy in all things. He found beauty and adventure and love in all of God’s creations. His excitement for life was unmatched. I’ve never seen the joy and aggression to show love the way he expressed it," she added.
"I will see my boy soon enough and it will be even more sweet and tearful as it was letting him progress to eternity," she continued.
Friends of the Bundy family have set up a GoFundMe account to help the family.
