The heartbroken family of a six-year-old girl who died two days after being sent home from hospital with tonsilitis believe somebody should take responsibility for her death.

Maya Siek, from Margate, was discharged with antibiotics despite collapsing twice and her mother insisting something was gravely wrong.

Two days later - having been readmitted to the town’s QEQM Hopsital - she died suddenly in her stepdad’s arms after her heart stopped beating.

A pathologist later ruled she had suffered acute myocardial necrosis - the death of heart cells - but was unable to establish the cause.

But a paediatric consultant with responsibility for child safeguarding across Kent later told Maya’s family it had most likely been triggered by sepsis.

The death of the “kind and helpful” youngster has shattered the lives of her loved ones and is now being investigated by a coroner and the East Kent Hospitals Trust, which runs the QEQM.

Maya’s grief-stricken mother, Magdalena, says she has rarely left the house since losing her daughter on December 21 last year.

“We were just a happy family with plans and ambitions for our children's future,” said the 26-year-old, who also has a six-year-old son, Nathan.

“But we are not the same family anymore.

“We completely lost the will to live but we are here because we have to take care of another child, but our life is ruined and will never be the same again.”

The family were looking forward to Christmas at home when Maya fell ill on December 18 and was tired, weak and cold to touch, with no appetite.

The following day Magdalena booked an appointment with a GP, but as they prepared to leave their home Maya, who was a pupil at Holy Trinity & St John's Primary in Margate, collapsed.

She was taken to the QEQM, where she was diagnosed with tonsillitis and told she could go home with antibiotics, but before she was discharged she collapsed again.

Magdalena said: “I asked the doctor about Maya’s tummy pain, white tongue, pale colour and her body being freezing cold to touch, but he said this was normal with tonsilitis.

“Maya was also vomiting in the hospital bed, so they gave her an anti-sickness injection and we came back home.”

During a sleepless night in which she was given two doses of antibiotics, Maya continued to complain of stomach pain and was thirsty and dizzy.

When she had not improved by morning, Magdalena - scared that her daughter was now too weak to stand unaided - called 999 and Maya was taken back to the QEQM by ambulance.

Following a negative Covid test, Maya - who was still pale and cold - was diagnosed with influenza and put onto a drip.

By 3pm Maya had been admitted to a children’s ward and was still complaining of serious stomach pain after having been unable to urinate for two days.

Magdalena says clinical staff reassured them Maya’s symptoms were not cause for significant concern, even saying she should be fine to go home the following day.

All the while Magdalena was trying to raise concerns that her daughter was behaving strangely and was reporting seeing things that were not there.

That night Maya again could not sleep and continued to act unusually, while her mother tried to comfort her as she begged for water that was being rationed after a doctor made a nil-by-mouth order.

On December 21, after after another sleepless night, Magdalena says she again raised concerns with staff about Maya’s shaky breathing, discoloured skin and disorientation.

But she claims she was told her daughter just needed a good rest, with staff reportedly taking Maya’s heart monitor off because they were concerned the beeping was preventing her from sleeping.

At 3pm, as staff attempted to take a blood sample while Maya was held by her stepdad, Raj Bande, her heart stopped beating.

“After a few seconds Maya went silent and my partner found out she had stopped breathing,” recalled Magdalena.

“At this point no one else even reacted as if something had happened, but Raj asked for help.

“Then all the other staff gathered in our room. They found out Maya's heart had stopped beating.

“They started resuscitation to save her and her heart came back for a few seconds, but then it stopped beating again. This time Maya passed away.”

Raj says he will never forget those harrowing moments.

“Maya took her last breath in my hands,” he said.

“I just can't get over it - I don't think I ever will.

“There were tons of people treating her but none of them could find out what it was until it was too late.

“Nothing can bring us our daughter back and I know our lives will never be the same.

“As her stepdad I just feel guilty as I wish I could have done anything differently, as when I look back the red flags were there.”

Magdalena, who has not been able to work since Maya’s death, remembers how frightened her daughter was in the lead up to her death.

“On the day before she passed she was very pale in colour and she said to me ‘Mummy, I think I’m going to die’, and I said don’t say that Maya.

“We asked them for help because she was saying strange things like she could see a monkey moving on the wall.

“We tried to tell the doctor and the nurse but nobody listened to us. And then her heart stopped beating.”

Maya’s family met with the trust’s chief executive, Tracey Fletcher, on December 28, and were told an investigation would be carried out into her death.

In March a meeting took place at which a paediatric consultant acting independently said it was likely the influenza had developed into sepsis, producing dangerous toxins that would have affected Maya’s heart.

An inquest into her death was opened on July 28, but was adjourned until September 25 so a review can be held ahead of a full hearing.

Jane Dickson, the chief nursing officer at East Kent Hospitals, said: “I am so sorry to Maya’s family for their loss.

“We are undertaking a thorough investigation into Maya’s care to assist us in providing answers to Maya's family as well as ensuring we know where we need to do things differently and ensure lessons are learned.

“We will continue to work with and update Maya’s family as part of the investigation."

While they wait for answers, the devastating impact on Maya’s family continues to be felt.

Magdalena says they have chosen to keep the Christmas tree Maya decorated during her last days up in their living room.

“Maya was getting ready for Christmas, that’s why I’ve still got the tree,” she said.

“It’s always going to be with me because Maya made it.

“For us Maya she always be in our hearts. We do everything so that her memory can still be alive.

“We have got a bench for her in Dane Park in Margate, near our house, under her favourite tree.

“We walk there every day. It helps bring back all the memories about her.”