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7-year-old girl in South Carolina dies 1 minute into surgery to get tonsils removed

Posted at 10:28 AM, Feb 26, 2020
and last updated 2020-02-26 11:31:50-05

GREENWOOD, S.C. -- The family of a 7-year-old girl from South Carolina is devastated after her heart stopped while she was having her tonsils removed.

Paisley Cogsdill, 7, died Feb. 21 during a tonsillectomy at Self Regional Hospital in Greenwood, South Carolina, WHNS reports.

Her parents say she went into surgery, and one minute later, her heart stopped. Doctors could not revive her.

“Going into surgery, she had no fear. She was smiling and happy. Nothing was wrong. She had no fear,” Paisley’s grandmother, Mary Beth Truelock, told WHNS.

The family says Paisley was a healthy child with no issues, other than she snored in her sleep. Autopsy results were expected Tuesday to help offer more clarification on her death.

“Definitely missing her all the time. You don’t understand why these things happen, but we know it was God’s plan. That’s the only thing that is going to get us through because we know it was God,” Mary Beth said.

Paisley’s uncle, Cameron Truelock, says the 7-year-old was the light in the family. She loved everyone and made sure everybody was close.

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“She was just spunky, energetic. She would always keep us on our toes,” Cameron said. “She loved going to church, being active in church, and she loved being close to everybody. She was the community’s kid. She loved everybody in the community.”

Mary Beth says the community has shown so much love through this most difficult time. A GoFundMe set up to cover funeral expenses has raised more than $32,000.

“This is a horrible time for us. We live second by second right now because nobody should ever go through this pain that you’re going through,” Mary Beth said.

A service to celebrate Paisley’s life will be held Thursday in Clinton, South Carolina. It will be followed by a burial ceremony.

WHNS, WPTV and CNN Newsource contributed to this report.