Image: Athina Vazeos / GoFundMe / Chiara Ignace remains unconscious in hospital after a medical emergency on Friday, April 4, 2025.

By Alyssa Conti

FUNDRAISING HELP

Chilliwack family seeks support after 6-year-old helps save mom from medical distress

Apr 12, 2025 | 10:30 AM

CHILLIWACK — Little Sofia was at home with her four-year-old brother and her mom, Chiara Ignace, on what should have been a typical Friday morning.

Instead, the six-year-old witnessed her mother begin to vomit and have a seizure in the span of minutes. Though terrified, her aunt Athina Vazeos explained that Sofia quickly moved to FaceTime her dad and show him the situation– allowing him to call 9-1-1 and come back home to perform emergency procedures until an ambulance arrived.

“What started as unexplained symptoms quickly escalated into a life-threatening situation that could have taken her from us,” wrote Vazeos in a GoFundMe page. “Doctors moved swiftly to perform an intricate and high-risk brain surgery lasting almost six hours.”

“While we are incredibly grateful that Chiara made it through the surgery, her recovery remains uncertain and her fight is far from over.”

Source: Athina Vazeos / GoFundMe / Chiara Ignace and her two children, Sofia (6) and Nikos (4)

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Ignace is currently in the Chilliwack General Hospital ICU, where she remains unconscious. There has been no word for when she will wake and how her condition will be when she does, but her long road to recovery is expected to involve intensive medical care, as well as physical and neurological rehabilitation.

For now, the family is seeking support for the costs of her medical treatments, therapy and basic expenses to offset lost wages from this event.

“Though Sofia may not fully understand the gravity of what she did for her mama on April 4, her incredible courage during what would have been an overwhelming and terrifying situation is nothing short of heroic.”

The GoFundMe campaign has raised $26,709 out of its $45,000 goal at the time of writing.