“We lost our little girl,” Thays Brandão said of her daughter
Child star Millena Brandão died on May 2 at age 11
The Brazilian preteen was hospitalized with an unknown illness days before her death, suffering cardiac arrest 13 times
Her mother Thays posted a heartfelt tribute on Instagram, sharing a photo of her daughter with angel wings and a halo
Child actress and model Millena Brandão — who appeared in the Netflix series Sintonia — has died at age 11.
The preteen died on Friday, May 2 after falling ill. However, her cause of death remains unknown, according to her parents Thays and Luiz Brandão.
Thays told Brazilian news outlet G1 that since April 24, her daughter started experiencing severe headaches, leg pain, drowsiness and a loss of appetite. Millena was taken to see a doctor but didn’t receive a proper diagnosis.
“She had a headache, but she could walk and talk. The doctor said it was dengue fever, but he didn’t do any tests. He told us to take her back home and give her dipyrone,” her mother told the outlet.
Thays explained that Millena’s pain worsened so much that she couldn’t walk. They returned to the hospital on April 26, but she was ultimately sent home again to rest. Two days later, Millena fainted in her bathroom at home. She regained consciousness after her frightened parents rushed her to the hospital.
“She put her hand on her head and screamed in pain,” Thays recalled.
Millena was admitted to the hospital. However, the following morning she suffered cardiac arrest.
“Her lip turned purple. Then they resuscitated her and intubated her. From that day on, she never woke up again,” her mother told the outlet.
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Thays said a CT scan revealed a 5-centimeter mass in her brain. However, there was no neurologist on site to confirm whether the mass was a tumor, cyst, edema or clot. During that time, her little girl’s health deteriorated.
“She got worse, with two to three cardiac arrests per day. She had 13 arrests in total. She had never had that before. There was one day when she had seven respiratory arrests. Sometimes they gave her massages and other times they gave her shocks [with a defibrillator],” her mother recalled.
Doctors ultimately declared Millena brain dead.
“I said that if we were to let her little heart stop beating on its own, we would suffer more, and so would she. And we asked for the machines to be turned off,” Thays said.
On Saturday, May 3, Thays announced Millena’s death in an emotional Instagram post, sharing a photo of her daughter with angel wings and a halo.
“An open letter to my little girl 🖤” she wrote in the caption. “On May 2nd we lost our little girl, but I’m sure she’s in the arms of our almighty father and in a beautiful place to play. The memories we spent together will remain in my memory and I’ll never forget your joy that was contagious to everyone around you.”
“My girl, I’m already missing you more and more not having you here and I know I’ll miss you even more in the days to come!” she continued. “You were the light in our lives and I know that from up there you’ll continue to watch over us and light up our lives 🩷 And I’ll love you forever, and you’ll always be in my heart. I love you my girl‼️”
