Following the sad news, tributes are pouring in on social media, with one fan writing: “So heartbreaking. My heart goes out to her family. May they find comfort in the love and support.”
Another adds: This is heartbreaking and devastating. 11 years old is far too young. RIP.”
“She’s so young to go through all that,” a third says. “She’s such a beautiful young lady. RIP.”
“I pray this young lady is at peace after a horrible tragedy,” a fourth user pens.
Millena Brandão was a beloved Brazilian child actress and model, best known for the soap opera The Childhood of Romeo and Juliet and the Netflix series Sintonia.
Brandão’s mom shared the news of her death with her Instagram followers: “The memories we spent together will remain in my memory, and I’ll never forget your joy that was contagious to everyone around you.
“My girl, I’m already missing you not being here, and I know I’ll miss you even more in the days to come. You were the light in our lives, and I know that from up there, you’ll continue to watch over us and light up our lives.”
The young star had been experiencing headaches, pain in her leg, drowsiness, loss of appetite, and had been fainting since April 24.
Her family had taken her to an urgent care center and two São Paulo hospitals, where doctors had initially believed she had dengue fever.
Brandão’s mom, Thays, told Brazilian news outlet G1 that doctors ‘didn’t do any tests’ and were told to ‘take her back home and give her dipyrone.’
Brandão had to leave a modeling event on April 26 due to severe pain in her leg and was taken to Pedreira General Hospital, however, tests did not reveal any issues.
On April 28, the family had planned to attend mass at a local church but were forced to return home after their daughter began experiencing headaches, had no appetite, and was drowsy.
Once they returned home, Brandão fainted in the bathroom, and her parents immediately took her to the Maria Antonieta Urgent Care Facility.
Thays recounted: “She arrived with her unconscious in my husband’s arms. Then, she opened her eyes and regained consciousness.”
The health centre ran tests on the young actress, which were negative for COVID-19, H1N1, and dengue fever.
But showed that she had a urinary tract infection and was placed on medication.
Brandão was then taken to Granjaú General Hospital on the morning of April 29 and was intubated after she had her first cardiac arrest.
Thays recalled: “Her lip turned purple. Then they resuscitated her and intubated her. From that day on, she never woke up again.”
Her mother also believes that the hospital was not equipped enough to look after Brandão, claiming that a neurologist wasn’t on site.
“They only did a CT scan, and the doctors said they saw a 5-centimeter mass in her brain, but they don’t know if this mass was a tumor, a cyst, an edema, a clot … because they couldn’t open her head to see,” Thays states.
Brandão’s mom said: “She got worse, with two to three cardiac arrests per day. She had 13 arrests in total. She had never had that before.
“There was one day when she had seven respiratory arrests. Sometimes they gave her massages and other times they gave her shocks [with a device called a defibrillator].”
Brandão’s official cause of death is still unknown.
The young actress is survived by her mom Thays, her father, and her two-year-old sister.
