Remembering the good times with her daughter, Caylee, who died when she was just 16-months-old, is difficult for Timika Hall.
“The way my daughter passed away all I can see is that night and that hospital,” Hall told CBS affiliate, KKTV.
Caylee died in August of last year at Evans Army Community Hospital in Fort Carson, Colorado. The autopsy showed that she had suffered from myocarditis, a rare disease that causes inflammation of the heart muscle. Now, military wife Tamika Hall, is fundraising to create a foundation that will raise awareness about Myocarditis and fight against hospitals’ neglect of military families.
Spokesman for the family, Darrick Strickland, told the Amsterdam News that although Hall understood that Caylee was diagnosed with the disease after her death, she felt that her daughter was not given proper care at the time when they were at the emergency room.
That was the family’s second trip to Evans Army within 24 hours. The first time, Hall’s husband had taken Caylee to the emergency room after displaying various symptoms throughout the night. According to the family, she was sent home after being diagnosed with a “virus that had been going around,” without having any lab work done.
Hall said in a statement that her “mommy instincts” kicked when Caylee progressively worsened. They returned to the emergency room hours later and over and hour to see a doctor.
“They treated Caylee like a kid with a common cold,” Hall said in a statement. “I saw life leaving my baby and as a mommy I couldn’t help her.”
According to Hall, Caylee passed out as they were in a room waiting for her to be examined by a doctor. She ran to the nurse’s station to get help but by the time a doctor did come, it was too late. She was pronounced dead an hour later.
While there has been no official statement from the hospital, their records show a different account of what happened that night. As reported by KKTV, the hospital’s records indicate that a nurse had checked on Caylee and “woke her up easily.”
But Hall maintains that no one came.
“The people we trusted to help her didn’t and now they are trying to cover up her death,” Hall said in a statement.
Strickland says that for the family, coping has been a “struggle.”
“She [Timika Hall] feels her husband puts his life on the line for our country and they didn’t do anything to save the daughter,” Strickland said.
To honor Caylee’s memory, Hall is beginning an initiative to establish the Caylee’s Heart Foundation, which will fund education, research and campaigns to prevent hospital negligence. It will also work to inform the public about Myocarditis.
While the foundation is their main focus, the family is in the process of filing a lawsuit against the hospital.
“I plan on fighting,” Hall said in a statement. “No parent should ever have to endure what we’ve gone through.”
Donations toward establishing Caylee’s Heart Foundation can be made here: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/justice-4-caylee