A three-year-old girl died in November, a week after accidentally twisting the cord from a window blind around her neck.
Elsie Mahe, daughter of American footballer Reno Mahe, had been playing with a friend in her family's home in Utah on November 22.
According to TODAY, the family don't know how the accident happened or how long Elsie was caught in the blind cord before she was found by an adult. Elsie's mum, Sunny, performed CPR before the paramedics arrived on the scene.
The young girl was taken to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, but was later pronounced brain dead.
Reno and Sunny Mahe announced that Elsie had passed away in a moving Instagram post on November 29.
Along with a poignant drawing by Elise's older sister Evie, the couple captioned: "Our Elsie girl has officially been released to heaven – at least from a worldly, paperwork stand point. Her second neurological death exam was also positive for brain death.
"We feel peace and we are again so grateful for the privilege of being Elsie's parents."
Story continues after the post ...
According to Jenny Roberts, a spokesperson for the family, they plan to donate Elsie's organs. "With her death and the donation of her organs, the doctors have told them there is a possibility that she can save seven or eight lives," she said.
"The fact that they might be able to help other parents and other children avoid a similar fate, I think that is comforting."
Accidents involving window blind cords are tragically common. According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), nearly one child dies after being strangled by window cords every month.
Speaking to TODAY Parents, Kim Dulic, CPSC spokesperson, said that window-covering cord strangulation is a persistent but hidden danger.
Children can become unconscious within 15 seconds of become entangled in a blind cord. It often happens in rooms where parents assume their children are safe.
"What parents may not know is that this is quiet. It is a hidden danger and also a quiet danger," she said.