Family, friends, teammates and classmates of Payton Summons, 9, gathered outside of Cook Children's Medical Center Wednesday night to pray for their friend.
"It's OK to be sad, but you just pray for her," Pastor James Fitzgerald of Friendship West Baptist Church said to a classmate of Summons' who cried during the vigil.
They came together in hopes of seeing a change in Summons' situation.
She was brought to the hospital Sept. 25 after she suddenly went into cardiac arrest and stopped breathing. Doctors found a tumor crushing her heart and lungs. They were eventually able to revive her heartbeat, but said her brain went without oxygen for more than an hour and suffered serious damage. Summons has been on life support ever since.
The hospital planned to take Summons off life support Monday, but was stopped by a temporary restraining order granted by a court. Friday, the family's attorney said they are seeking a temporary injunction.
"It would extend the actual stay of Payton being pulled off life support and we could extend it all the way to Oct. 15, which would provide the time for the family to find a facility to take her in," family attorney Justin Moore said.
Cook Children's Hospital said in a statement that it has reached out to two hospitals to see if they could take Summons, but both hospitals denied the transfer "because they agreed there was nothing additional they could do for Payton."
At Wednesday night's vigil, her family and friends weren't accepting anything other than a miracle.
"The Lord can move mountains and I know that Payton is going to come through this," a family friend said.
Her mother, Tiffany Hofstetter, was overcome with emotion as she thanked the people who showed up to the vigil to support Summons.
"This is true love right here. The people who showed up today, truly love and believe in Payton," Hofstetter said.
Others chose to use the vigil as a time to remember Summons as she was before she came to the hospital.
Her softball coach was one of them.
"I remember this one time, Payton caught the ball on second base and she didn't drop the ball! Even though a bigger girl ran right over her. She had a little cut on her face. She got up and just kept going. That's how strong she is," the coach said.
The hospital issued a statement Monday.
"As is standard practice, we conducted a brain death exam on Payton approximately 24 hours after she was admitted to our hospital," a spokesperson for Cook Children's said. "The results were conclusive and showed zero brain activity, confirming that Payton is brain dead... Our hearts are with Payton's family and we will continue doing everything in our power to help them through this difficult time."
More on the hospital’s response here.
Payton's family has started a GoFundMe page to help pay for her medical and legal expenses.
