Texas school shooting survivor, 11, almost suffered heart attack while visiting memorial to friend who died in massacre

AN 11-YEAR-old Texas school shooting survivor almost suffered a heart attack while visiting the memorial of her slain best friend, her family has said.

Illiana Treviño was hospitalized when her heart started racing after she went to lay a teddy bear and flowers for 10-year-old Amerie Joe Garza, one of 21 victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary school in Uvalde.

Not known, clear with picture desk

Robb Elementary school shooting survivor Illiana Treviño, 11, was hospitalized after her heartrate started racing as she visited the memorial for her best friend Amerie Garza[/caption]

Not known, clear with picture desk

Illiana’s mom said has no previous medical issues and the medical emergency happened due to ‘a broken heart that we need to work on healing’[/caption]

Reuters

Amerie Joe Garza, 10, was shot dead as she tried to call 911, according to her family[/caption]

Doctors told Illiana’s family that she had been on the verge of having a heart attack, and she remains hospitalized a week later, her mom Jessica Treviño told PEOPLE.

Treviño said that Illiana has no previous medical issues and “it’s just from a broken heart that we need to work on healing.”

Illiana is showing signs of post-traumatic stress disorder and acute stress from the horror she endured, doctors have told her family.

The mom added that her daughter’s “heart [rate] skyrocketed because she couldn’t take the trauma … all the trauma and pain from it.”

In a GoFundMe set up for Illiana’s medical bills, her family explained that Amerie “would protect Illiana from bullies and always came to her aid.”

Treviño told PEOPLE her daughter is terrified of going back to school in part because her protector Amerie won’t be there.

The GoFundMe page says the medication given to Illiana “isn’t working” and “the doctors’ biggest worry is that she might go into cardiac arrest.”

Illiana escaped the tragedy when the gunman walked past her fourth-grade classroom, but Amerie was shot as she tried to call 911, according to her grandmother.

In the days after the tragedy, her grandmother, Berlinda Irene Arreola, described her granddaughter as a “smart” kid who had just received an award for the A-B Honor Roll.

“She was very smart and she was looking forward to making a life for herself,” she told The Daily Beast.

“She was super-outgoing. She had a generous heart. She was always there to lend anybody a helping hand. She was very quick to be a teacher’s pet.”

“We are barely seeing the ripple side effects of what this tragic incident has brought to our community,” Iliiana’s family said.