Maya Kowalski, the young girl at the center of the recent Netflix documentary Take Care of Maya, has just shared a health update.
To recap: The new documentary - which premiered on the streaming platform on June 19 - follows the story of Maya and the chronic and debilitating pain she experienced as a young girl.
Back in 2015, the then-10-year-old's parents - Jack and Beata Kowalski - frantically searched for answers regarding their daughter's poor health and saw a number of medical professionals. One doctor diagnosed Maya with CRPS (complex regional pain syndrome) and prescribed her high doses of ketamine, but the drugs failed to work so the Kowalski family traveled to Monterrey, Mexico so that their little one could be put in a ketamine coma.
Initially, the treatment seemed to be working, until one day Maya became sick again. Her parents rushed her to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was there that medical staff accused Beata - a registered nurse who had been frantically requesting that Maya be given ketamine - of child abuse and the state took custody of Maya.
Watch this clip from the heartbreaking documentary:The hospital staff believed Beata had Munchausen by proxy, a mental illness and form of child abuse where a parent makes up symptoms or causes real symptoms to make it look like their child is ill. One infamous case is Deedee Blanchard, who falsified her daughter Gypsy Rose's medical records and confined her to a wheelchair for years, before Gypsy Rose and her boyfriend ultimately murdered Deedee.
While a psychological evaluation confirmed that Beata did not have Munchausen by proxy, she was still prohibited from seeing her daughter for several months. Becoming increasingly depressed, she sadly took her own life.
The documentary fast-forwards to a now-17-year-old Maya, her father, and her younger brother Jack as they seek justice from the legal system, arguing that Maya was medically abducted. It reveals various audio recordings from Beata, depositions, and interviews with the family.
Viewers have been left both devastated and furious at the events in the documentary, with many taking to their social media to share their thoughts. One user wrote about how "gut-wrenching" the film way, saying: "Just finished watching Take Care of Maya on Netflix and I'm emotionally exhausted. Had to be one of the most gut-wrenching documentaries I’ve ever seen. Shame on the hospital, court system, and all those that stood by complicit while this injustice was happening."
Recently, Maya shared an update on her condition in an interview with People, where the teen told the outlet that, while she now has the full use of her arms and legs (she had, at the height of her CRPS symptoms, been using a wheelchair) she still cries most nights.
"I do my best to push through. I've already missed a lot, so I want to make the most of life now," she said.
He father added that, when Maya was released into her dad's custody just five days after her mother's tragic death, the family had to seek out a range of therapies to deal with the pain. "We worked with her slowly: water therapy, things like that. But it was horrible - after losing my wife, I thought my daughter was next," he admitted.
As the documentary details, the family have been working tirelessly for years to file a lawsuit against the hospital. A trial is scheduled for September. Maya told People: "For us as a family to move on, we need to fulfil my mom's wish and fight. I want justice for my mom."
If you or someone you know is in crisis, please reach out for help and contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741, or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.
