Yukon family warns of water after daughter dies from brain-eating amoeba

YUKON, Okla. (KFOR) - Spring break is already here and it'll be summertime before we know it, which means many Oklahomans will be hitting the water. 

But before you do, a Yukon family is sharing a warning about a disease that took their daughter’s life eight and a half years ago. 

“We're just saying be aware because we do not want anybody to not have their kid,” said Alonie McKown, Beth Knight’s mother. 

In August 2015, 24-year-old Beth Knight and her children were having a blast swimming at Lake Murray. 

Three days later, Beth became violently ill. 

"Headaches, nausea, vomiting, she was seen at the emergency room on that day,” said Mike McKown, Beth’s father. 

Doctors misdiagnosed the young mother with migraines, then meningitis, but it was actually a brain eating amoeba making her so sick. 

"It's Naegleria fowleri,” said Mike McKown. “It's an amoeba that causes a very rapidly fatal disease called PAM or Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis." 

The disease is rarely diagnosed accurately and it’s incredibly deadly. According to the CDC, of the 157 known infections between 1962 and 2022, only four people have survived. 

"Anytime water gets into the nasal passages, the amoeba can gain entrance into the brain,” said Mike McKown.

Beth died just six days after her family day at the lake. 

"I know a lot of people say that, you know, their kid’s smile lit up a room, but she really did,” said Alonie McKown. 

The McKown’s have turned their tragedy into a lifelong mission of educating families and doctors about the disease through the Beth Smiles Amoeba Awareness Campaign. 

"We always recommend trying not to go into the shallow end of the lakes, but the deeper [part] and and always, always, always wear nasal plugs or nose plugs,” said Mike McKown. “... Keeping your head above water at all times." 

The amoeba thrives in water that’s warmer than 80 degrees. 

The CDC also recommends avoiding water-related activities in warm freshwater during periods when water temps reach 80 degrees or greater and avoiding digging in, or stirring up, the sediment while taking part in water-related activities in shallow, warm freshwater areas.

“We want to see more people survive, survive this because it is preventable,” said Alonie McKown.