Josslyn Sophia Jewel Gee

This is a story about my niece Josslyn Sophia Jewel Gee. It is a tribute to her. Josslyn was born on December 14, 2013. Daughter of Jessica O’Hern and Michael Gee. Her story was cut short by this disease we have never even heard of, sepsis.

If you ask anyone who knew Josslyn, they would tell you she was the happiest, most ornery toddler that they have ever met. She was no stranger to anyone she came in contact with. Her most radiant quality would have had to been her giggle. It was contagious. Not only that, but it was very abundant. She was a very happy-go-lucky little girl. She could fall, scrape her knee, and get back up with a smile. This was the biggest reason why we couldn’t tell she was sick.

The night before her passing, Josslyn began to run a fever. She had a slight cough, but nothing out of the ordinary from what she usually did. My sister (Jessica) was staying at my mother’s house for the night with Josslyn. She loved to stay at Nana’s and Papaw’s house. They were two of her favorite people in the world. My sister noticed her fever, and she had my mom drive them to the emergency room. As they arrived, my sister got out to unbuckle Josslyn from her car seat. She felt her head, and Josslyn’s fever had dropped. Josslyn wasn’t acting out of the ordinary, so my mom and sister decided to leave thinking that she was just teething, and the ER would have just sent her home anyways. They went to the store and bought some baby Tylenol, and my sister made plans to go to the urgent care center in the morning if the fever came back.

The next morning, my mom was getting ready to leave for work. She went to Josslyn’s crib to check on her, but found her not breathing. My mom panicked, and woke up Jessica and my step-dad. They called 911, and the paramedics or officer couldn’t resuscitate her. She was brought to the hospital, where they pronounced her dead. No one knew what had happened. We had so many questions running through our head. We knew she had a fever the night before, but we never would have guessed that it would have killed her. Fevers were so common for toddlers, especially for ones that were teething, how could we have known?

Her autopsy didn’t come back for at least 2 weeks after her death. The coroner called my sister to explain what had happen to Josslyn. He told her that she went into septic shock from the Strep-B bacteria. (Sepsis and Group B Streptococcus)

I had to research this disease, because I didn’t even know what it was. All I could think about was why no one even knew what it was. I have heard of people getting blood infections, but I never knew it had a name. I also never knew it was so deadly. June 28, 2016, we gather as a family to honor the 1-year anniversary of her death. We will light off lanterns into the night sky to never forget the day her bright soul went to heaven. She is missed badly by both of her parents, brothers, family, and friends. We hope that her story can be related to anyone who has lost a loved one to sepsis, or to spread awareness and possibly save a life!

Source: by Trevor O'Hern (Josslyn's uncle)