Doctors claimed it was a simple viral infection, but a tiny girl lost her voice mere days after her illness started. They advised her parents to wait things out. Later on, they would learn that a simple test may have prevented her death and changed everything.

When Cassie started exhibiting symptoms of what doctors characterised as a common seasonal illness, she was five years old, active, and in her first year of school. The specialists who evaluated her were not alarmed by the symptoms, which were initially modest. However, something wasn’t quite right for her parents.

They were forced to rely on medical advice that would soon turn out to be gravely incorrect as Cassie’s condition continued to deteriorate. Her body was battling a bacterial infection that affects hundreds of millions of people globally and is frequently cured with a single course of antibiotics, but no one knew this. Cassie was never given that opportunity.