The 3-year-old daughter of former Philadelphia Eagles running back Reno Mahe has died a week after a tragic accident at the family’s Utah home November 22.
Elsie Mahe was playing with a friend when the cords from a mini blind became twisted around her neck, Fox 13 reported. The family does not not know how it happened or how long she was entangled. The child’s mother, Sunny Mahe, began performing CPR before paramedics arrived. Elsie was later pronounced brain dead at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City.
Mahe and his wife, Sunny, revealed that Elsie had passed away in an emotional Instagram post Tuesday, November 29. “Our Elsie girl has officially been released to heaven — at least from a worldly, paperwork stand point. Her second neurological death exam was also positive for brain death,” they wrote. “We feel peace and we are again so grateful for the privilege of being Elsie’s parents.”
The Mahes also said they will be donating Elsie’s organs.
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, nearly one child dies from being strangled by window cords each month. Most at risk are children up to 9 years old. “It is a hidden danger and also a quiet danger,” Kim Dulic, a press and public affairs officer at CPSC, told the Today show November 29.
Per the CPSC, victims can lose consciousness in 15 seconds and be brain dead in a minute, which is why it recommends parents buy cordless window treatments from Target, IKEA or Select Blinds. “All cords are bad,” Dulic told Today in a 2014 interview. “Whether it’s on the front, back or side. Kids and cords don’t mix.”
Mahe coaches running backs at Brigham Young University. He played five seasons in the NFL from 2003 to 2007.
A GoFundMe account has been set up on behalf of the family.
