Josh Hafner

USA TODAY

A 15-year-old girl declared brain dead more than two years ago is “as healthy and beautiful as ever,” according a photo from her family published online.

Doctors declared Jahi McMath officially dead after a sleep apnea surgery went awry in 2013. But her family refused to believe they had lost the girl.

The family moved in 2014 from Oakland to New Jersey, where a state law allowed her stay on life support.

"Jahi as healthy and beautiful as ever, proving the naysayers wrong," read the caption of a new photo of the girl and her mother, Nailah Winkfield.

The post was published last week on Facebook to a group of nearly 50,000 people called “Keep Jahi McMath on life support," which provides updates from the family.

The post generated much attention and some apparent controversy. A new post to the group on Sunday admonished online commenters for “negative and heartless thoughts.”

Jahi’s family maintains that she’s alive because she’s maturing, reportedly having grown normally and shown signs of puberty and no organ decay.

Tests also showed blood flow and electrical activity in the girl’s brain, and videos posted online purport to show the girl responding to verbal requests to move her fingers.



The family’s attorney argued in 2014 that Jahi should be declared alive, citing signs of brain functions found during a series of tests at Rutgers University. In December, the family filed a civil rights lawsuit to void Jahi’s death certificate.

The family is also suing UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, where the complex surgery that led to Jahi’s condition took place.

[h/t Star-Ledger]

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