Not long after 5-year-old Kade Maresh and his 3-year-old sister, Kallan, visited a petting zoo in Minnesota in early July, they began vomiting and had nonstop diarrhea.
After several emergency room visits, they were rushed by ambulance to the University of Minnesota's children's hospital, where they fought for their lives, reports the Star Tribune.
It was determined they'd contracted an especially dangerous strain of the E. coli bacterium, which led to hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) after shiga toxins targeted tiny blood vessels and hampered their bodies' ability to transfer oxygen in red blood cells. Kallan, who would have turned 4 next month, soon died of multi-organ system failure, and her brother remains in critical condition, struggling to survive.
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