Tributes paid to ‘beautiful, cheerful’ girl who passed away suddenly

Tributes have been paid to a "beautiful and joyful" five year old girl who passed away suddenly this week in Cork.

Maja, who had just started Junior Infants at a local school in Carrigtwohill, tragically passed away in the early hours of Tuesday morning. A family friend told who the whole community are "just so devastated" for the family as she paid tribute to the young girl. The woman, identified only as Sofia, told Cork’s 96fm’s Opinion Line:

“The whole family, and we all in the community are just so devastated and the family is going through a terrible time at the moment. “Maja comes form a Polish family that have been living in Carrigtwohill for the last about ten years. “She was a lovely, beautiful, joyous girl. Maja just started Junior Infants, and last weekend she was just playing at a birthday party. “Unfortunately on Tuesday night, she passed away tragically.”

Sofia told how little Maja had developed a fever, before her family had to rush her to the local out-of-hours doctor service. She continued:

“It was very sudden – she just got very high fever, I know her mother managed to bring it down, but then her condition started to really get worse, she was getting weaker, her nails and her lips were turning blue and they ran to South Doc. “South Doc quickly called the ambulance and then she died on the way to the hospital.”

Maja's parents and her older brother Mikolaj (8) have been left heartbroken by the little girl's passing. And Sofia said that the community are trying to support the family in any way they can during the difficult time. She said:

“Their extended family are in Poland and they’ve decided that’s where they want to carry out the funeral.” “So what we’re looking to do, we’re looking to support them as much as we can, some members of the family arrived quickly from Poland so they’re supporting them, but we’re just looking to support them financially, we know the costs of the funeral, the travel, they’re going to be out of work for a while.”

A GoFundMe page has bene launched to help Maja's family, which has gotten over €8,000 in donations in less than 24 hours. Another friend of the family wrote:

“Our dear friends’ beloved daughter Maja suddenly passed away 2 days ago at the age of 5. She was a beautiful, cheerful little girl loving her family and her big brother Mikolaj deeply. “We are looking to help raise funds for all the funeral expenses that will take place abroad, their healthcare and living expenses while being out of work. It is an urgent call and we are looking to raise the funds within one week. Every contribution counts and is much appreciated! “Members of the family and parents’ of Maja will be in charge of the funds once raised.”

You can donate to the GoFundMe page here. 

Featured image via GoFundMe.