- An 11-year-old Uvalde student was hospitalized after losing her best friend in the massacre.
- IIliana Treviño's heart rate spiked after visiting Amerie Jo Garza's memorial, People reported.
- "I think it's just from a broken heart that we need to work on healing," Illiana's mother said.
An 11-year-old Uvalde school shooting survivor has been hospitalized after losing her best friend in the massacre last month, People reported.
IIliana Treviño, a fourth-grader at Robb Elementary School, saw her heart rate spike after visiting Amerie Jo Garza's memorial, per the outlet. Garza, 10, was among the 19 children killed in the May 24 massacre in Texas.
"I think it's just from a broken heart that we need to work on healing," Illiana's mother Jessica Treviño, 40, told People on Thursday.
According to Treviño, Garza "always came to her [daughter's] aid" and frequently protected her from bullies at school. "Amerie made her feel safe and made her feel okay to go to school," she said.
Shortly after visiting Garza's memorial together last week, she told People her daughter's heart rate "skyrocketed because she couldn't take all the trauma… all the trauma and pain from it."
After rushing her daughter to the hospital, doctors said the girl was on the verge of suffering a heart attack. "The hospital told me, 'Your daughter's going into cardiac arrest.' And I said, 'What?'" Treviño told the outlet.
Her daughter was transferred to a hospital in San Antonio, where she remains, per the outlet. The family has launched a GoFundMe page to help with medical expenses.
According to Treviño, doctors said her daughter is showing signs of post-traumatic stress disorder.
"It's so sad how things work out in life, because it's not fair. It really isn't fair that any of these children lost their lives, but it just really breaks me more because I know how much this child did for my child," she told People.