Baby Hermella at the centre of legal battle passes away

She captured the hearts of people across the country. But now baby Hermella, whose parents fought to keep on life support, has passed away.

Nirmala Naidoo, family spokesperson from Open Arms Patient Advocacy Society, confirmed Monday Hermella Mammo died Dec. 20 at the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary.

The story of the brown-haired, chubby-cheeked little girl who lived at the Alberta Children’s Hospital captured the public’s attention earlier this month when her Lethbridge parents faced off against doctors in a Calgary courtroom Dec. 7.

Hermella had an extremely rare form of cancer: a Stage IV adrenocortical carcinoma tumour above her right kidney. Test results showed the girl had an infection and was probably brain-dead.

Doctors agreed the child had no hope of recovery, but her parents Will Mammo and Anna Motsyk maintained she would get better.

There had been no positive change in Hermella’s condition since the summer, and the case was difficult for family and caregivers, Jim Peacock, lawyer for the doctors in the intensive care unit at the hospital, said at the hearing earlier this month.

Mammo and Motsyk said they had spent six months at their daughter’s bedside, burned through all of their savings and weren’t about to give up.

Court of Queen’s Bench Associate Chief Justice John Rooke called the case an “unspeakable tragedy.” During the Dec. 7 hearing, he issued a temporary injunction to allow life support to continue for another four weeks so Hermella’s parents could obtain legal advice about their daughter’s condition.

Lawyers soon stepped forward to lend their expertise free of charge to Mammo and Motsyk. The case was scheduled to be back in court on Jan. 4 so Rooke could make a ruling, but now it will not proceed.

Reached Monday evening, Brendan Miller of Walsh LLP, the couple’s lawyer, said he had no comment.

Agencies/Canadajournal