Robinson couple mourns death of only child a day after her 1st birthday
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The first thing Daniel Niebergall noticed was the silence.
He and his wife, Cheyenne, stood watch around-the-clock this week on the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in Lawrenceville as their only child lay comatose after suffering a grand mal seizure on Oct. 5.
Doctors declared Oaklynn Grace Niebergall brain-dead at 3:47 p.m. Tuesday, her father said. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office later reported that as her time of death.
But the family continued life support for about two more days. On Wednesday, little Oaklynn — who had her mother’s warm smile and loved dinosaurs — turned 1.
On Thursday, her parents let go. Surgeons removed Oaklynn’s heart, liver and kidneys for organ donation.
When the Niebergalls returned to their Robinson apartment Thursday, the emptiness — that silence — was unsettling.
“Coming home last night, it was hard, not hearing her laughter when we came in the door,” said Daniel Niebergall, 21, a gas station attendant born and raised in the Phoenix area. “It was different. And it was really rough.”
“When we got home, we had to take a minute, to take everything in.”
A week earlier, Cheyenne Niebergall, a stay-at-home mom who turns 22 later this month, was preparing to give Oaklynn a bath.
She said she looked away from her daughter for two seconds to grab something. She turned back and Oaklynn was mid-seizure.
Cheyenne Niebergall, a Montour High School graduate with a history of seizures, panicked. She pulled Oaklynn from the bath, started CPR and screamed for a neighbor while Daniel Niebergall called 911.
“Cheyenne was screaming, crying,” Daniel Niebergall said. “She was trying to get her taken care of. She was trying to help her. She was trying.”
The neighbor and, later, paramedics performed CPR for the better part of 90 minutes.
An ambulance rushed Oaklynn to Heritage Valley Sewickley hospital, where doctors stabilized her vital signs. Then, they took her to Children’s Hospital.
This week, the couple — who married in September 2021, just six months after Daniel Niebergall moved to Pennsylvania — camped out at the hospital.
Cheyenne slept on a couch, her husband on a pull-out bed. Daniel Niebergall’s mother, Marcia, quickly flew in from Arizona and slept on a chair or on a blanket that covered the bare floor.
The decision to donate Oaklynn’s organs was an obvious one, her father said. The couple waited until Thursday because they didn’t want to let her go on her birthday.
“We wanted to help other parents,” Daniel Niebergall told the Tribune-Review on Friday afternoon. “This should never happen to kids. Nobody, in general, should have to do this.”
Allegheny County Police are investigating the death, spokesman James Madalinski said.
“Those are the routine, legal things they have to do,” Oaklynn’s father said. “They’ve just got to cover all their bases. Legally, they have to go through a process.”
Three days ago, the Niebergalls launched a GoFundMe page to help pay for Oaklynn’s funeral and related expenses. Their goal is $10,000.
The couple doesn’t know what’s next. They’ve talked about moving to Arizona, but aren’t sure.
“Right now, we’re mostly just going through the motions,” Daniel Niebergall said. “Hour by hour, day by day is pretty much how we’re going to be for a while. It’s really rough.”
“We’re doing the best we can.”