On Aug. 6, Connelly picked her daughter Luna up from daycare and noticed “a redness” around her left eye. The day care teacher said that Luna had “gotten hit in the face with a book,” and so Connelly chalked up the redness to that. However, Luna’s eye worsened and then “reached a point where she would wake up in the night screaming,” according to Connelly.

On Aug. 11, Luna had an appointment with a pediatrician for the eye and was prescribed amoxicillin. When Connelly brought her daughter back on Aug. 13 because her eye was worsening, she was diagnosed with preseptal cellulitis, cause unknown.

The next day, Connelly and her children were returning from Bradford, where they were picking up medication, and Lukas, Connelly’s nine-year old, reported that “Luna’s eye is bleeding.” Connelly and Luna returned to the ER, and were told by a second doctor to “come back if it gets worse.”

From left, Lukas Connelly, 9, Luna, 4, Lurenzo, 2 months, and Lumen, 3, in early August, just before Luna’s eye infection.

When Connelly mentioned the possibility of a bug in Luna’s eye, she said the doctor laughed and told her that the possibility of that happening was “extremely rare unless you went somewhere tropical.” The receptionist in the ER also laughed at her theory, Connelly said.

Connelly took Luna home, gave her a bath and noticed that something was moving in her daughter’s eyelid, which was red and swollen. Her partner, Ryan Peffer, and son also observed the movement. Connelly applied petroleum jelly to the area, “put some pressure on [Luna’s] eye, grabbed the tweezers, and pulled out the bug.” Connelly concluded the “bug” was a New World screwworm parasite after consulting with an entomologist at Penn State Extension.

Connelly added, “I was so scared.” She filmed the Aug. 17 event and posted it on Facebook. At press time, the video had more than 275,000 views.

The next day, Connelly received two phone calls from UPMC Cole representatives to discuss “concerns.”

Dr. Marlene Wust-Smith, a pediatrician with Coudersport Pediatrics and a provider for UPMC, examined Luna on Aug. 19. Connelly reported the doctor said, “I don’t like the looks of this … I want Luna’s eye to be drained … we need imaging …”

Because both Connelly and Dr. Wust-Smith were worried about Luna’s vision being affected or losing the eye, Connelly was referred to a Pittsburgh ophthalmologist at Children’s Hospital.

Connelly has contacted lawyers about her case, who have asked her to recontact them if Luna has a “permanent disability.”

“It’s just so infuriating, the medical gaslighting, when it’s your kids,” Connelly said.

According to reports, screwworm myiasis (fly larva in human tissue) is extremely rare in the United States, but one report has recently been documented by the Department of Health and Human Services in Maryland. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, these larvae “burrow into the flesh of a living animal, [and] cause serious, often deadly damage to the animal” that can, in rare cases, include people.

Luna’s eye is improving slowly but was still red and swollen this week, her mother said.