Please read the below article and put Will Sellars family and my family in your prayers.
Will was my grandson Riley's friend and they have gone wakeboarding together with my family.
Will Sellars put up the fight of his life.
But it wasn't enough. A microscopic parasite killed the 11-year-old Orlando boy, whose love of wakeboarding drew him to the freshwater lakes enjoyed by thousands of people across Central Florida.
In just days, an amoeba from a lake bottom ravaged the boy's brain and on Wednesday robbed Steve Sellars and Peggy Voght of their vivacious and active son. They called his death a "science-fiction nightmare."
Concern about the rare brain infection prompted pledges Thursday by Orange County health officials to post warnings in lakeside bathing areas. But some people who live and play in the area wondered whether Will's death could have been prevented.
County health departments already issue yearly bulletins about the threat of amoebic encephalitis. A warning issued in June by the Orange County Health Department advised people to avoid swimming in the warm lakes and to wear nose clips to avoid exposure.
The deadly amoeba occurs naturally in the sediment of freshwater bodies. Florida is full of lakes and ponds, including more than 500 in Orange County alone.
Naegleria fowleri, as the organism is known, becomes active only when the water temperature rises above 80 degrees.
"Today we don't post signs at a lake because all of the lakes are really at risk," said Dr. Kevin Sherin, director of the Orange County Health Department. "This really is a rare infection, but it's important information that needs to be out there."
Like many people, members of Will's family said they had heard of the problem but didn't realize the seriousness of it until the smiling boy they loved became ill.
"We're going to pay much more attention to it now for other people," the boy's uncle, Mark Zeitler, said. "Now is not a good time to play in Central Florida lakes."
Doctors suspect Will contracted the amoeba July 28, while wakeboarding on Lake Jessamine in the Conway area. Four days later, he developed a rash. On Aug. 3, he complained of a headache.
By Sunday, Will's condition had deteriorated. His stomach pains and vomiting were accompanied by lethargy and confusion. That is when his father rushed him to a doctor.
At Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, doctors told the family they thought Will was suffering from meningitis or encephalitis. When his brain began to swell on Tuesday morning, hospital staff drilled a hole in his skull to relieve pressure and take a sample of the fluid that had built up inside.
The day Will died, doctors confirmed that the amoeba was responsible.
"The doctors were very aggressive and tried everything in their power to fight this disgustingly awful parasite," the family said. "[Will] is a real warrior."
Other residents who use and live along lakes questioned why officials were not more active in alerting people of the threat and more open about Will's death.
Tabby Bybee and a friend were sunning themselves Thursday at Warren Park on Lake Conway, as Bybee watched her children swim, when a reporter told her of Will's death.
"Get out of the water! Get out!" Bybee yelled to sons Brian, 11, and Blake, 6. "Why isn't there a sign? I can read. I wouldn't let them go in there."
The Central Florida YMCA had the same thought for its campers at Camp Wewa in Apopka. Although the lake at the camp is spring-fed -- and apt to be cool enough to avoid the threat -- campers were kept out of the water Thursday.
They swam instead in the pool, spokeswoman Maryalicia Johnson said.
Longtime residents Mary Johnson and Peggy Ballinger have lived along Lake Jessamine for three decades. They and their families avoid the lakes in the summer, but wonder why the county no longer closes the lakes when the amoeba threat increases.
Orange, Seminole and Volusia shut down lake access in the late 1980s after an 8-year-old girl died from the same infection as Will did.
Two other boys, from Oviedo and Palm Bay, died from the same infection in 2002.
"I had them look through a microscope at the lake water so they understood why [they couldn't go in]," Johnson said of her four children.
"What's in a drop of water will surprise you," she added. "You won't want to swim in it."
Will was a week away from starting the fifth grade at Pine Castle Christian Academy. He was remembered there Thursday as outgoing, energetic and athletic. His family said he idolized professional wakeboarder Darin Shapiro, from whom Will learned about a month ago.
Headmaster Lorne Wenzel said his school, of nearly 650 students, will have grief counselors and pastoral staff on hand when the children return to school next week.
"We were stunned when we heard about it," Wenzel said. "We're praying for [his family]. Will was a well-loved student."
Above information was taken from article in Orlando Sentinel.
