Millions of people come down with the flu each year, and the vast majority come through the experience with little to no harm. That was not the case for a Capital Region child named Edith Ann Wagner.
In February of this year, Edith Ann woke up with a sore throat. “She said she felt a little off, so we took her to the doctor, and he said it was the flu,” her mom Stephanie said. When her fever spiked, they decided to take her to the hospital.
“First we went to Memorial, and after they looked at her, they sent Edith Ann over to Albany Med, the same night.”
The doctors at Albany Medical Center kept watch for one night, then made the drastic decision to get an emergency air med flight to Boston.
Tom Brophy is her grandfather. “The doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital were very concerned, and Edith Ann was only growing worse.”
For days, it would be a struggle to keep her alive, but the brave child fought back against the infection in her body. It was then they noticed something was wrong with her hands and feet.
“They were very dark in color — purple — and you could tell this was not going to end the way anybody wanted it to end,” her mother added.
Doctors told the family that during her struggle with the flu, tiny blood clots had formed in Edith Ann’s veins, and they cut off the circulation to her extremities. They now faced the grim task of telling her she would lose her feet and hands.
“There was plenty of nights, crying, sitting next to her, wishing this wasn’t happening,” her father said.
After amputating her hands and feet, Edith Ann was able to eventually return home to the Capital Region where one thing became clear: nothing was going to slow her down.
“She was like a monkey in a cage, all over the place. It was like you gotta be kidding me,” her grandfather said.
Edith Ann quickly learned how to adapt, playing with toys, coloring and learning to walk again with prosthetic legs. Through all of it, she was never bitter at anyone. “They tried to help me. They did their best. But in the end, they had to chop them off.”
Edith Ann is walking again and learning to use her new prosthetic hands, looking forward to getting back to her normal, active life. Her father says, he has no doubt, she’ll rise above these limitations.
“With the drive in my daughter, she’s going to be able to triumph and persevere through all of this.”