Life is a fragile thing. It can be all too easy to forget that, to close our eyes to the fact that those we love can be here one day and gone the next.
Often it takes an abrupt wake-up call to drive the fact home, and even then we can fall back into a bubble of simply expecting our family and friends to be there all the time.
In March 2017, Dawn Massabni was getting ready to welcome her daughter. It was to be Madalyn Massabni’s 19th birthday, and she was flying home from Florida – where she was at college – to spent it with her mother.
Neither woman could have expected what was to come.
Dawn took Madalyn out for dinner to celebrate, only when they got home Madalyn admitted that she wasn’t feeling well.
By the very next morning, Dawn knew something was seriously wrong: Madalyn could barely talk.
“I don’t even know if she knew who I was and I called 911 right away,” Dawn told Good Morning America.
Before first responders had even got there, Madalyn had suffered a seizure. A heart attack would soon follow.
Madalyn was rushed to hospital, where she died just three days after turning 19. The reason? A rare and sometimes deadly condition that not enough people guard against: Toxic Shock Syndrome.
Caused by bacterial toxins, symptoms of TSS can include fever, rash, skin peeling and low blood pressure. It can be caused by bacteria entering one’s body through an opening in the skin and is often associated with tampon use.
Following the death of her daughter, Dawn is on a mission to educate others as to the dangers of the condition, so that no one else has to suffer the heartbreak she has experienced.
Watch more on Dawn and Madalyn’s story in the video below:
Rest in peace, Madalyn. We’re sending all our thoughts and prayers to those in need of them.
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