A three-year-old girl died after suffering a seizure at an airport at the end of a dream family holiday in the Maldives because of a condition which only two other children in the wold have not recovered from.
Ava Akers, three, was rushed to hospital, fell into a coma and had to be transferred to Bangkok after her undiagnosed Epstein Barr Virus Encephalitis (EBV) caused the seizure.
The family, who live in Shropshire, made a traumatic 24 hour journey back to the UK on a medical plane and Ava ended up on the high dependency unit at Birmingham Children's Hospital.
Three-year-old Ava Akers became one of only three children in the world to die from Epstein Barr Virus Encephalitis (EBV)
There, doctors gave the Akers family the devastating news that the 'Ava they knew was gone' as she was severely brain damaged.
She died at home.
Her parents, Phill and Helen Akers, decided to launch a charity called Ava's Angels in her memory, taking food and essential items into Birmingham Children's Hospital to support families in their greatest time of need.
Today, Mr Akers, who works for a global digital IT firm, told the family's heart-wrenching story.
He said: 'Ava was a perfectly healthy three-year-old, enjoying ballet, swimming, pre-school, and looking forward to starting school in September.
'We're keen travellers and had taken her to Dubai, Abu Dabi, Switzerland, Italy, Cyprus and Barbados among other places. She loved travelling.
'We'd had a brilliant holiday in the Maldives in March 2017, catching a sea plane to the island we were staying on, watching stingrays being fed, catching hermit crabs on the beach and snorkelling, which she took to straight away.
'We were at the airport on the mainland about to get our flight back to Dubai and then onto Birmingham when we asked her if she'd like to choose something from the gift shop as a souvenir.
'She dropped it, which was unlike Ava as she was never clumsy.
'Then she dropped onto the floor having an atonic seizure. Her eyes rolled back, her arms went straight and her whole body was shaking.
'Helen caught her and I picked her up and ran around the airport asking for help.
Ava had a seizure in the airport on the family's way back from the Maldives. Her father Mr Akers said: 'She was choking, I'd never seen a child have a seizure before, it was so scary'
After Ava spent a week in hospital she seemed completely normal and continued singing, dancing, eating and watching the Trolls film but that afternoon she began to feel unwell and hallucinate
'She was choking, I'd never seen a child have a seizure before, it was so scary, I thought she was going to die.
'It was traumatic but once they started, the staff did everything they could and she got better.
'We were transferred to a larger hospital and spent a week there. She went back to normal, singing, dancing, eating and watching the Trolls movie on the iPad - she loved that film.
'The doctors thought she'd had a throat infection and urine infection. The compound effect can cause seizures in under-fives but they said she would be fine.
'We felt so lucky that she was going to be OK.
'We spoke to the chief medical officer from our insurance company to arrange a flight home.
'But that afternoon Ava felt really unwell, began hallucinating and started to cry a lot.
Mr Akers said: 'They showed me the MRI and I could see it was dreadful. There were two white large areas that showed swelling happening in Ava's brain'
Ava was flown to one of the best private hospitals in the world, in Bangkok. Mr Akers said: ''It was here that she was diagnosed with Epstein Barr Virus Encephalitis (EBV), a form of glandular fever, which, in a minutia of cases penetrates the blood in the brain, causing it to slow down and resulting in catastrophic damage in a matter of hours'
'She lost her balance and was unable to walk. The doctors did an MRI scan and lumbar puncture to look at the cerebral spinal fluid in her head to check it wasn't meningitis.
'They showed me the MRI and I could see it was dreadful. There were two white large areas that showed swelling happening in Ava's brain.
'They said we'd got to get her to another hospital and at this point she fell into a coma.
'The insurance company arranged a Learjet 45 medical evacuation with a doctor and a nurse on board, which flew us to one of the best private hospitals in the world, in Bangkok.
'Ava had further tests and was put on a life support machine. Her responsive rate was one which meant for every minute, she was only taking one breath.
'It was here that she was diagnosed with Epstein Barr Virus Encephalitis (EBV), a form of glandular fever, which, in a minutia of cases penetrates the blood in the brain, causing it to slow down and resulting in catastrophic damage in a matter of hours.
'Ava was given immunoglobulin treatment - lots of antibodies to boost her immune system and steroids to her brain
