The mother of a North Carolina teen who died from a rare brain-eating amoeba is pleading with medical investigators to trace the source of the infection.
Monica Mendoza, the mother of 17-year-old Moises Ponce Mendoza, has described her son’s harrowing final days after he contracted Naegleria fowleri, an organism that causes fewer than 10 fatal cases annually in the United States. The teenager died August 31, leaving his family searching for answers about where he was exposed.
Speaking in a Univision report, Mendoza recalled the last moments she saw her son conscious. “He started acting like crazy, screaming like crazy and grabbing his head,” she said. “And I started crying, and I held him and said, ‘My son, what’s wrong with you?'”
That episode marked the beginning of a rapid decline. Moises slipped into a coma and passed away just days later, leaving what his mother now calls an unbearable absence. “How am I going to live with this void?” she questioned.
The grieving mother has found some measure of comfort in the outpouring of support her family received at the hospital. “Even the doctors said your son is very loved, because we’ve never seen a patient have so many people come see them,” she shared.
Moises’s brother, Elmer Aguilar Mendoz, has also spoken about the devastating loss. “I wish I could go back in time, hug him, and tell him just how much we loved him,” he said. “My kids, my nephews loved him very much.”
The brothers shared a fondness for swimming that now haunts the family as they try to pinpoint where the amoeba entered Moises’s body. Aguilar Mendoz noted their frequent outings to various swimming spots: “We always went to many different places to swim. We always loved that. Lakes, pools, many places.”
The extreme rarity of fatal Naegleria fowleri infections has made the investigation particularly challenging. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services told ABC11 that its probe remains ongoing and officials have not yet identified the most likely source of exposure.
Mendoza has made clear that her pursuit of answers extends beyond her own family’s tragedy. “Please, pay close attention and do your part to find where this came from so we can protect everyone else,” she urged.
The teen’s death came just over a week after Lillian Smart, 8, of Louisiana, died August 22 from the same amoeba in her state’s first confirmed infection since 2013. Officials there believe Smart contracted Naegleria fowleri after swimming in Lake Claiborne.