Tanner Lake Wall, 13, was on vacation with his friends and family at a campground in North Florida when he got sick. Wall became ill after two days of swimming, and died on August 2. 

“Nausea, vomiting, pretty bad headaches,” his father Travis Wall of the symptoms. His son also experienced a stiff neck. Tanner Wall was diagnosed with a strep throat at the Putnam Community Medical Center, but his parents sought a second opinion. 

The couple became irate and took their son to UF Health in Gainesville. At the second medical facility, doctors put Tanner Wall on a ventilator and diagnosed him with a far more serious condition.  “They said, ‘We’re sorry to tell you this, but your son does not have bacterial meningitis. He has a parasitic amoeba, and there is no cure,’” the father said.