Loved ones clung to her, tucked stuffed toys into her bed and burst into her favorite song at Doernbecher Children's Hospital during an hourslong goodbye to an outdoors-loving 4-year-old girl who died from complications associated with a virulent strain of E. coli.
Serena Faith Profitt, of Otis, died Monday just eight days after playing in the front yard with other kids at the start of the Labor Day weekend. Only one other person in a gathering of family and friends got sick -- a 5-year-old boy who is now being treated in a Tacoma hospital for kidney failure.
The parents don't know for sure what sickened the two children but they suspect food: The pair shared a turkey sandwich at an Otis restaurant that Saturday.
"I know in my heart it's what they ate because everyone else is just fine," said Elizabeth Sutton, mother of the boy in the hospital.
Doernbecher released a statement Tuesday, saying Serena tested positive for E. coli but that the state public health lab hasn't yet confirmed the strain. Officials from Lincoln County and the Oregon Public Health Division are investigating.
Cases of E. coli O157:H7, the likely culprit, are relatively rare in Oregon. Most people recover, though 5 to 10 percent develop a type of kidney failure known as Hemolytic-uremic syndrome. Complications from E. coli O157:H7 have killed 20 people in Oregon since 1992. The last child who died from the strain was in 2010.
The young and old are the most susceptible, said Dr. Paul Cieslak, head of infectious disease at the Oregon Public Health Division.
"Most deaths are kids under 5 and people over 80," Cieslak said.
In an E. coli investigation, health officials look at exposure to high-risk foods, including undercooked meat, leafy greens, sprouts, raw milk and unpasteurized cider. Tainted water has also caused outbreaks as have petting zoos.
The two children played in Serena's yard on Saturday with other kids and her family's two dogs and then shared a turkey sandwich for dinner, Sutton said. No one else ate a turkey sandwich, she added, and that's all the kids had.
Two days later, both complained of abdominal cramps and had low-grade fevers, Sutton said. Then came bloody diarrhea, a telltale sign of E. coli O157:H7.
Last Wednesday, Serena's parents took her to the emergency room at the main hospital in Lincoln City. The hospital ran tests, but found nothing and told the family to take her home and keep her hydrated, said an uncle, Travis Hargitt. But her symptoms got worse, he said. On Saturday, her parents took her to the hospital in McMinnville and physicians there had her rushed to Doernbecher, Hargitt said.
"They put her on dialysis right away," Hargitt said, referring to Doernbecher. "She was doing better. She was responding."
Then Sunday afternoon she suffered a stroke, he said. An MRI showed she had brain damage, he said.
"It attacked her nervous system," Hargitt said. "Then it moved to her brain."
Within 12 hours, doctors pronounced her brain dead. The family decided to say goodbye about 9 p.m. on Monday.
So many family and friends turned up that people spilled out of her hospital room into the hallway. Hospital staff brought toys for the children to play with. People sobbed and held each other. There was comfort in so much support but also deep sadness.
During the goodbye, friends and family sang "Jesus Loves Me," Serena's favorite song.
Serena's parents, whose first child was still born, are devastated, said Aleasha Hargitt, her aunt. The Profitts have one other child, a 2-year-old girl.
Serena loved to play with her sister and cousins, teaching them recently to sing "Rockin' Robin." Hargitt said it drove her crazy in the car.
"She sang every single word," Hargitt said. "How I would love to hear that now."
She characterized Serena as "wicked smart." The 4-year-old learned to read at age 2, loved books and couldn't wait to go to kindergarten, Hargitt said. She lived in dresses that twirled but also enjoyed going bear hunting with her father near their rural home.
The single-income family, with Serena's father working for an electrical company, have limited health insurance, Travis Hargitt said, and lack the resources to pay a big hospital bill. A GoFundMe page has been sent up for those who want to contribute.
Funeral arrangements have not yet been made.
Sutton, who's been camping out in her son's hospital room, is devastated as well.
"It's absolutely horrible," she said. "My brother and I grew up with Serena's parents. Our kids have grown up together. We've known them our whole lives."
But her focus now is on her son, who is going through dialysis. So far he's stable though physicians have warned her of the risk of a stroke or seizures.
"Right now he's doing as well as can be expected," Sutton said. "He's nowhere near out of the woods."
-- Lynne Terry