Taya woke up for school one morning and didn’t feel quite right. Her mum took her to the doctor – and she never made it home

Doctors are still unsure why a nine-year-old girl went into fatal cardiac arrest, but a coroner believes it could be a “silent illness” that is difficult to diagnose.

The death of New Zealand schoolgirl Taya Awhina Kauri in February 2019 has been investigated by coroner Amelia Steel, who published her findings on Friday.

The nine-year-old ‘princess’ woke up on the morning of her death complaining of chest pain, a racing heart and a burning sensation in her chest.

Her mother Monique Kauri later told New Zealand news outlet Stuff that she initially thought her daughter was just nervous about going to school.

Taya was rushed to Papakura Emergency Clinic in south Auckland, where her heart rate was measured to be more than twice her normal resting heart rate.

The nine-year-old girl was taken by ambulance to Middlemore Hospital where she suffered a cardiac arrest and sadly died in intensive care.

Coroner Steel determined that Taya was a healthy child until 2018, when she began experiencing severe migraines, shortness of breath and fatigue.

She ruled that Taya’s cause of death was “sudden cardiac death and hypertrophy and dilation of the right ventricle (a fluid-filled cavity),” New Zealand Herald reported.

Normally, enlargement of the right side of the heart is caused by a lung disease that blocks blood flow to the lungs.

However, the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy on Taya was unable to determine what caused the dilation and hypertrophy of the right ventricle.

However, he did discover that Taya’s heart was twice as heavy as that of a girl her age.

Coroner Steel suggested that Taya may have suffered from primary pulmonary hypertension, a form of high blood pressure that affects the arteries in the lungs and the right side of the heart.

She said it is a “surprisingly silent disease” that is often difficult to diagnose because the symptoms, which include reduced exercise tolerance, shortness of breath, chest pain and fainting or near-fainting, are not specific to any particular condition.

Paediatrician Dr Nicholas Baker said Taya’s doctors had not considered diagnosing her with the rare and incurable disease at the time.

A 2018 electrocardiogram (ECG) review of Tara revealed right ventricular overload, which could have led to a diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension.

Taya’s family has set up a foundation in her memory to provide Christmas gifts to struggling families and to support fathers grieving the loss of a child.

In her findings, Coroner Steel also noted: “Dr. Baker agrees with the other reports that an earlier diagnosis would not likely have opened up treatment options that could have significantly prolonged Taya’s life.”

The coroner decided not to open an investigation into Taya’s death, saying all the medical evidence had been considered and there were no suspicious circumstances.

Taya’s family has set up a charity The Awhina Trust in memory of her.

“Taya was a generous, caring and thoughtful nine-year-old whose presence made the world a better place,” the foundation’s page on the fundraising website Givealittle reads.

‘To honour her life and legacy, the Awhina Trust was established with two main aims: to provide support to those experiencing hardship through a Christmas hamper programme and to create a caring and supportive community for fathers coping with the grief of losing a child.’