The Coroner’s Court has ruled that the sudden death of 10-year-old Jahzarah Caballero-Millwood was the result of natural causes.
Caballero-Millwood unexpectedly died 20 June 2018, leaving her parents, family members and the wider community confused and searching for answers.
“She was a perfectly normal, healthy child, and just days before she died, I kept asking if she was OK, because her eyes were turning yellow,” said her mother.
The child’s father added the night before she died, his daughter was staying at his house and, he said, “I found this situation quite strange. How can a healthy, happy child, who had no injuries and showed no signs of an illness just pass?”
The Coroner’s Court jury of four men and three women were told that the yellowing of the eyes was likely a symptom of jaundice. However, an autopsy report later ruled out this theory. Instead, the likely cause of her death was a sudden and severe asthma attack.
“The tissues of her [airway] were made up of extra dense muscles which normally would help to contract and release to help with breathing and the flow of oxygen,” said Health Services Authority pathologist Dr. Kimone Fraser.
Fraser explained that because Caballero-Millwood had not been treated for asthma within the six months prior to her death, her medical records did not reflect any treatment which could have been deemed ‘recent’.
However, a slight buildup of mucus in the lungs and the wider respiratory system were telltale signs that Caballero-Millwood was likely having symptoms of asthma leading up to or at the time of her death.
“[A] sudden significant shift in temperature could have triggered an allergic reaction, which in turn could have triggered an asthma attack,” said Fraser. “Simply going from, say, a cold room straight into a hot shower, or even from a really hot environment into a really cold room, could shock the muscles, causing them to contract suddenly and significantly causing an asthma attack.”
Fraser told the court that, although some asthma attacks can be accompanied by wheezing, this is not always the case and, in some instances, the wheezing can only be heard through a stethoscope.
Following a brief deliberation, the seven-member jury returned a unanimous verdict of death by natural causes.
While asthma is a non-communicable disease, the data on such conditions among Cayman’s students focuses on the prevalence of obesity and does not include figures on children suffering from that chronic lung disease.
However, according to the latest figures referred to by the World Health Organization, an estimated 262 million people were thought to have been affected by asthma in 2019, and of those, 455,000 died. But, there were no specific figures on children with asthma.
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