TOTALLY GEEKED!

Hannah Collins, 11, died at 10:20 p.m., the statement said. She spent the day embraced by her mom, Liz Crockett, and brother while her grandmother read her books and prayed.

“Hannah loved life, her family and friends and although this is not the outcome we wished for, our sweet girl has joined the angels, and we know she will always be close by, watching over us,” the statement said.

Hannah contracted the brain-eating amoeba, Naegleria fowleri, from swimming in the Edisto River in Charleston County in July, according to an online fundraising page set up for the family and a S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control news release, which didn’t identify the patient. She had been treated at Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

The family was told Thursday Hannah had irreparable brain damage.

Hannah was a student at Riverview Charter School in Shell Point. Friends and parents of classmates have been posting messages of support on social media this week.

She had been crowned queen of her age division at the Colleton County Rice Pageant in April.

“A precious little girl, a precious child,” pageant director Ann Drawdy said Thursday. “She’s a very sweet child and humble and very appreciative.”

DHEC confirmed in a news release Tuesday someone had been exposed to the organism while swimming near Martin’s Landing on the Edisto River in Charleston County on July 24. The amoeba is common in warm-water lakes, rivers and streams but infection is rare, the release said.

To be infected, a person must jump in the water feet-first and have water enter their nose with enough force that the amoeba reaches the brain, epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell said. The amoeba usually dies before the person is infected, Bell said.

A drug twice successful in treating the infectionwas rushed in from Orlando this week to treat Hannah.

In the statement, the family thanked Todd MacLaughlan, CEO of the drug company Profounda. MacLaughlan had rushed the drug known generically as miltefosine to Charleston via a UPS courier service.

But by Thursday, the family said doctors had done all they could.

A funeral Mass will be held at St. Peter’s Catholic Church on Lady’s Island, the family said. Anderson Funeral Home is handling arrangements.

Full statement from family of Hannah Collins, provided by family friend Kate Olin

“Hannah officially received her angel wings this evening at 10:20pm. Hannah spent the day surrounded by family and friends, snuggled with her Mom and brother, and listened to prayers and books read by her Grandmother.

Hannah loved life, her family and friends and although this is not the outcome we wished for, our sweet girl has joined the angels, and we know she will always be close by, watching over us. We wish to express our immense gratitude to everyone for the outpouring of love and support we have experienced these past several days. Most especially, the doctors, nurses and staff at Beaufort Memorial Hospital and the Medical University of South Carolina who worked so hard to help her to overcome the infection. We also want to thank and Todd MacLaughlan and the people at Profounda in Florida for everything they did in the middle of the night, to get the medicine that Hannah needed up to Charleston.

We are humbled and overwhelmed with the support, prayers and messages we have received from friends, our community and people we have never even met. We are reminded that we are surrounded by God’s goodness and ask your continued prayers in the days ahead.

Notes: Anderson Funeral Home is handling arrangements. Funeral Mass to be held at St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church.

”Read more here: http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/community/beaufort-news/article94116807.html#storylink=cpy