A 2-year-old boy named Woodrow Bundy tragically died after contracting a deadly brain-eating amoeba while swimming in Nevada.
The boy’s mother, Briana, broke the heartrending news in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
“Woodrow Turner Bundy returned victoriously to our father in heaven at 2:56 am,” she wrote. “He is my hero and I will forever be grateful to God for giving me the goodest baby boy on earth, and I am grateful to know I will have that boy in heaven someday.”
The tyke had passed away on July 19 from the infection, which his family believes infiltrated his body while playing in the water in Ash Springs.
According to a post by friends of the Bundy Family, Woodrow’s parents first noticed something was awry after the boy started experiencing “flu-like symptoms” last week. His mother rushed him to the hospital, where doctors initially thought he had meningitis.
It was only later that they realized he had naegleria fowleri, the deadly brain-eating amoeba that sparked mass panic across the country last summer.
This insidious parasite infiltrates swimmers’ noses and colonizes their brain, infecting them with primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a catastrophic condition that causes the destruction of brain tissue and the swelling of the brain, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While found worldwide, the microscopic monster predominantly resides in warm freshwater, such as lakes and rivers and hot springs, and can even show up in poorly maintained swimming pools.
The amoeba cannot survive in salt water and cannot spread from one person to another.
Unfortunately, the prognosis is not good for naegleria fowleri, which carries a 97% mortality rate.
Of the 157 known infectees in the US from 1962-2022, only four people have survived.
According to a Facebook update from two days ago, Briana had written that the CDC had refused to administer medication to Woodrow because he as “past the point of any survivor.”
“He currently shows no brain activity but there are still a few things we are trying,” the crestfallen guardian had added at the time.
Woodrow’s family was devastated over his loss.
“Our precious nephew returned home to our father in heaven early this morning,” wrote the tot’s Aunt Lisa Bundy on Facebook. “He was only but 2 years old. Perhaps he just had too much goodness in him to stay. I believe strongly we will be with him again. He is loved so much by a very large family.”
She continued, “Thank you everyone for your prayers … as we all know, in these times that the mourning process is almost unbearable sometimes … PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE continue to pray for my brother in law, Mel and my sister in law, Briana.”
Family and friends are imploring the public to help out with the Bundy family’s medical and funeral costs by donating to the father’s Venmo or contributing to their GoFundMe page set up by a family friend.
Unfortunately, experts predict we could see more N. Fowleri cases in the future because the microbe could be spreading due to climate change.
Scientists claim that warming temperatures are creating ideal conditions for the amoeba to increasingly thrive in bodies of water across the northern US.
Last August, a child died from an amoeba they allegedly contracted while swimming in a Nebraska river.
