Child Actress Millena Brandão Dies at Age 11 After Mysterious Illness

São Paulo, Brazil – Millena Brandão, an 11-year-old child actress known for her role in the Netflix series Sintonia, passed away on May 2 after battling a severe illness.

Her parents, Thays and Luiz Brandão, confirmed her death in a heartfelt post on social media. Millena began experiencing severe headaches, leg pain, drowsiness, and loss of appetite on April 24. Despite seeking medical help, she did not receive a proper diagnosis.

Thays told a Brazilian news outlet that doctors initially suspected dengue fever but conducted no tests to confirm. “He told us to take her back home and give her dipyrone,” she explained. When Millena’s condition worsened, they returned to the hospital on April 26, but she was sent home again.

On April 29, she fainted at home and was rushed to Granjaú General Hospital. Thays recalled the harrowing moment when her daughter screamed in pain, “Her lip turned purple. Then they resuscitated her and intubated her. From that day on, she never woke up again.”

A CT scan revealed a 5-centimeter mass in Millena’s brain, but doctors were unable to diagnose it further due to a lack of neurologists on-site. During her hospital stay, Millena suffered multiple cardiac arrests. “She had 13 arrests in total,” her mother said. “There was one day when she had seven respiratory arrests.”

Ultimately, doctors declared Millena brain dead. Thays stated that they made the gut-wrenching decision to turn off her life support, believing it would spare her more suffering. “If we were to let her little heart stop beating on its own, we would suffer more, and so would she,” she said.

After announcing her death, Thays shared an emotional letter to her daughter on Instagram, expressing her profound grief and love. “You were the light in our lives, and I know that from up there you’ll continue to watch over us,” she wrote.

The Brazilian municipal and state health departments are investigating the care Millena received during her illness as questions linger regarding her medical treatment.