Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: TV and Film, Documentaries, Netflix
Jess Hardiman
Take Care of Maya viewers have been left in tears after hearing ‘agonising’ voice recordings from Maya Kowalski’s mum.
The new Netflix documentary has proven to be a ‘gut-wrenching’ watch for viewers, with an official synopsis saying: "In 2016, Jack and Beata Kowalski took their daughter, Maya, to a hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida.
"The 10-year-old was admitted to the ER with a severe stomach ache. Instead of a quick hospital stay, Maya was taken from her parents and kept there.
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“The tragedy that unfolded next is the subject of the investigative documentary Take Care of Maya, a troubling exploration of how a fractured healthcare industry tore a family apart.”
Maya was just nine years old when she started experiencing mysterious asthma attacks and headaches in 2015, along with lesions forming on her body and severe foot cramps, and was later diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS).
One doctor prescribed high doses of ketamine for the youngster, but when that failed to work, her family travelled to Mexico so she could be put in a 'ketamine coma'.
While this initially helped, she ended up relapsing - at which point parents Jack and Beata rushed her to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, where things took a nightmare turn when mum Beata, a registered nurse, was accused of medical child abuse.
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Maya was taken into custody as Beata was accused of having Munchausen by proxy, a mental illness and form of child abuse where a parent makes up fake symptoms or causes real symptoms to make it look like the child is sick.
While a psychological evaluation established she did not have the illness, the mum was still not allowed to see her daughter, and after growing increasingly hopeless, Beata took her own life three months after Maya was taken off her.
The harrowing story has been a difficult watch for many viewers, but some have said there was one moment that was particularly poignant - saying the voice recordings from Beata at the end of the documentary were ‘heartbreaking’.
One person tweeted: “The end of Take Care of Maya broke me. This is why I keep every voice note and voicemail. Hearing the recordings of Beata repeatedly telling Maya she loves her made my heart break.”
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Someone else said: “The story that Take Care of Maya is based on was terrifying, but hearing Beata’s voice agonizing over her daughter hits in such a primal way if you are a person with a uterus and vagina hole that a baby grew in and came out of. No one gets to qualify that without that being first.”
A third wrote: “These voice recordings of Beata to Maya at the end are heartbreaking #TakeCareOfMaya.”
Responding to that tweet, another agreed: “That’s what got me! I can only imagine Maya watching the documentary and hearing her Mom talking back to her like that. Geeez.”
In an interview with People about the documentary earlier this month, Maya – who is now 17 – shared an update on her health.
She told the outlet that she now has full use of her arms and legs, but still finds herself crying out in agony some nights.
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“I do my best to push through,” she said.
“I’ve already missed a lot, so I want to make the most of life now.”
Take Care of Maya is available to watch on Netflix now.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, please don’t suffer alone. Call Samaritans for free on their anonymous 24-hour phone line on 116 123