Family organizing Motocross event in honor of local girl’s sudden death

By Rett Nelson

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    DUBOIS (eastidahonews.com) — After the sudden death of their 10-year-old girl, Brock and Kodi Egan are hosting a benefit at the Dubois Rodeo grounds in her memory this weekend.

Kylee Egan passed away August 3 from a veinous stroke (a blood clot in the brain) after spending 20 days at Primary Children’s Hospital.

Kodi tells EastIdahoNews.com their daughter was completely healthy a month ago and the reason for this unexpected medical issue remains a mystery.

“She’d been sick the week before with a high fever, sore throat (and other cold-like symptoms), but (the doctors) don’t think the two are associated with each other,” Kodi says.

It all began on July 5. Kodi says Kylee woke up with a mild headache. By the end of the day, she had a high fever and “felt terrible.”

Her symptoms subsided at the end of the week and Kylee was back to her normal self.

Then on July 14, the headaches returned. Kodi says they were in Dillon, Montana and Kylee got progressively worse after throwing up several times.

During a trip to the emergency room, doctors determined Kylee “had a bleed in her brain and had had a stroke.”

“They called LifeFlight and were on their way to come get her to take her to Primary Children’s,” says Kodi.

By the time Kodi and Brock arrived, a CT scan revealed that Kylee’s brain bleed had doubled in size. Pressure continued to build and doctors ended up removing the left side of her skull due to massive swelling.

“Her first full night in the ICU, they put her in a medically-induced coma. The pressure was getting too high and they were hoping that lowering her brain activity would help,” Kodi recalls.

A week later, Kodi says she started having seizures. Doctors kept Kylee heavily sedated for the next five days, which didn’t help the swelling go down like they’d hoped.

On July 26, Kylee was not showing any signs of voluntary movement during a reflex test, which meant Kylee was nearly brain dead.

Five days later, the Egans were faced with the hardest decision of their life.

“We made the difficult decision to take her off of life support,” Kodi says, tearing up. “She passed away at 2 a.m. on August 3.”

Kylee’s funeral was held on August 9.

With her death still fresh on their mind, the Egans, who own a farm in Dubois, were forced to quickly get back to work.

They are grateful for the outpouring of support from the community the last few weeks. Though people have rallied around them and their family, there are still moments when they struggle.

“I don’t know how I’m functioning,” Kodi explains. “You just put one foot in front of the other and take it moment by moment.”

Kodi describes her daughter as an “amazing kid” who “lived a lifetime in her 10 years” on earth.

She loved dirt biking and riding in the razor with her dad.

“She was always telling her dad to find a jump and go faster,” Kodi says.

Prior to her death, she was starting to get into basketball and softball and Kodi says she was on her way to becoming a “good little pitcher.”

“The motorodeo that Clark County 4H would put on every year was one of her favorite things. She talked about it all year long,” Kodi says.

The County wasn’t planning to hold the rodeo this year and that’s when Kodi and Brock decided to hold one in their daughter’s memory. It’s happening Saturday, August 27, at 2 p.m. Registration is from noon to 1:30 p.m.

The Egans are planning to use all the proceeds to help several families they met at Primary Children’s Hospital.

“Our whole family has been extremely blessed by this little community,” Kodi says through tears. “All of our kids go to school at West Jefferson and this little community of Monteview, Terreton and Dubois have stepped up tremendously. We just want some way to be able to pay that forward and give back to other people who are struggling with medical bills or the horrible financial burden of paying for your child’s funeral.”

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