Against the Odds: The Girl Who Survived a Deadly Amoeba

When Kali Hardig visited a water park in Arkansas, USA, no one imagined the day would end in a life threatening medical crisis.

Kali was 12 years old at the time.

Before the trip, she told her mother she had headaches and nausea. Her mother suggested she stay home and rest, but Kali insisted on going.

“It will pass,” she said casually.

But when Kali returned home after spending the day playing with friends, running, and jumping into the pools, her parents immediately sensed something was terribly wrong.

“She grabbed her head and cried out, ‘Mom, it hurts!’”

Her frightened parents rushed her to the hospital, where doctors delivered devastating news.

A Rare and Deadly Parasite

Doctors believed Kali had contracted a dangerous parasite from contaminated water that entered her body through her nasal passages and attacked her brain.

Her parents were stunned.

“Is it possible? She was only playing in the water!”

Doctors explained that Kali was suffering from a rare form of meningitis caused by an amoeba, a disease known as primary amoebic meningoencephalitis.

Dr. Matt Linam, an infectious disease specialist who treated Kali from the beginning, later recalled the heartbreaking conversation with her parents.

“We had to tell them that she would most likely not survive the next 48 hours,” he said. “We knew the statistics. Only two people in North America had ever survived this kind of infection. Nearly every patient dies within a very short time.”

A Race Against Time

Despite the grim outlook, the medical team at Arkansas Children's Hospital refused to give up.

“We removed the infection from Kali’s body and tried a rare German medication that had not yet been approved in the United States,” Dr. Linam explained. The medicine was specially obtained through the CDC.

Doctors also lowered Kali’s body temperature to 93 degrees and placed her into a medically induced coma in an attempt to reduce the swelling in her brain.

For two weeks, doctors and nurses worked around the clock at her bedside.

“It felt like a race against time,” Dr. Linam said. “Everything we focused on was about keeping her alive. But balancing the body in that condition is extremely complicated because even high blood pressure can worsen the brain swelling.”

“Fight, Girl”

Throughout the ordeal, Kali’s parents stayed by her side, whispering words of encouragement into her ear.

“Fight, girl,” they repeated again and again.

“We had good hours and bad hours, not good days and bad days,” Dr. Linam recalled. “We didn’t know whether she would survive, or if she would ever return as the same little girl.”

Then came a moment the family and doctors would never forget.

“Two days after she was sedated, she responded by moving her thumb,” the doctor said. “We spoke to her, and her thumb moved in response. We cannot fully explain it, but we know she heard us.”

The Third Survivor

As Kali’s condition slowly improved, doctors decided to gradually wake her from sedation.

The process took several days. Even then, the medical team did not know what her condition would be once she regained consciousness.

“We needed to see how she would function,” Dr. Linam said. “What happened afterward was incredible.”

Kali had to relearn basic skills like swallowing and walking, but her recovery amazed everyone around her.

“The improvement she made in just eight weeks was unbelievable,” he said. “In the end, she became the third survivor.”

According to Dr. Linam, doctors still cannot fully explain why Kali survived while so many others did not.

“There was another 12 year old boy in Florida who was diagnosed with the same disease only days after Kali,” he said. “He received the same German medication, but sadly he did not survive.”

“There is no doubt that Kali’s case was Hashem’s kindness. Throughout the entire process, there were countless small miracles every single day that made the difference between life and death.”