Parents speak up after brain-eating amoeba kills local teenager
THOMSON, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - The Thomson community is continuing to mourn the loss of 17-year-old Megan Ebenroth.
Her biggest ers and the ones who loved her more than anything were her parents.
“When they put her in my arms when she was born, I knew my life would never be the same,” said Chrissy Ebenroth, Megan’s mom. “And as she took her last breath, I knew my life would never be the same.”
The hardest realization is knowing she’ll never hold her baby again.
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“A lot of parents don’t get to feel their babies’ last heartbeat,” said Chrissy. “They don’t get to cuddle with their child one last time.”
In her daughter’s last moments, Chrissy made a promise.
“Her last day, I promised her that I would do all the things she wanted to do,” said Chrissy.
Chrissy and her husband, Steven, are carrying on their daughter’s name.
“We don’t want people to forget our daughter, and that’s all,” said Steven.
It’s hard to forget someone like Megan.
“She was real. She was authentic. She was goal-oriented,” her mom said.
Steven said: “Anything that was a goal, like in school, anything to do with her future, she took that as a super, super serious challenge, and she wanted to exceed everyone’s expectations.”
In the eyes of her parents, she exceeded everyone’s expectations.
“I would say thank you, God, for making Megan just for us and no one else,” said Chrissy. “I didn’t deserve her, but I needed her. I still need her.”
It’s quiet around the Ebenroth household these days.
“I walk around the house and I just say her name and say I love you,” said Crissy.
The pain comes when no “I love you” is said in return.
“I hate having to talk about her in the past tense, but I have a push to make people aware of something that I was not aware of,” said Crissy. “I would have done things differently. And I think should have done things differently too because she loved life.”
Megan’s life was taken by something so rare.
Dr. Dennis Kyle, a professor of Infectious Diseases and Cellular Biology at the University of Georgia, said: “The amoeba are quite prevalent but the number of people who get infected is low. And we don’t really understand why that’s the case.”
Kyle is working to find the answer.
“We’ve been working on a diagnostic that we think could actually be used to detect amoeba infection much earlier than we have been doing,” said Kyle.
Until then, awareness of the rare but deadly infection is key.
“Nose clip, keeping your head above the water. I can’t tell you what a big difference that would have made in our lives,” said Crissy. “We wouldn’t be stuck in this nightmare.”
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