Mom told not to worry after toddler’s febrile seizure, then she was gone
- Olive Tenney, an 18-and-a-half-month-old toddler, died unexpectedly after experiencing febrile seizures, leaving her family without clear answers.
A mom from Arizona was told everything was fine with her toddler after she suffered a febrile seizure. Months later, she was gone.
Aubrey Tenney, 32, told Newsweek she remembers her daughter, Olive, as a little girl who "lived so hard."
Known as Ollie to her family , Olive loved water, approached strangers as if they were friends and was full of life.
Aubrey Tenney's daughter Olive smiles and points at a fountain.
"She was just truly a ray of light," Aubrey said. "She was such an easy, calm baby, and then she turned one. She had the best personality, and was always going, doing, learning something ."
Then, on November 1, 2023, everything changed. Olive died unexpectedly at 18-and-a-half months old.
An autopsy later returned as inconclusive, leaving her family without clear answers and searching for awareness rather than certainty.
Looking back, Aubrey, who is now mom to Tanner, 6, and 1-year-old twins Wes and Mae with husband David, recalled two horrifying incidents in the months before her daughter's death.
The first occurred on July 4 while the family was on holiday in California.
Olive had fallen asleep in her aunt's arms after a day at the beach when something suddenly seemed wrong.
"My sister was like, 'Something's going on with Olive. She doesn't look right ,'" Aubrey said. "I ran over there and her lips had started to turn blue."
After water was poured on her head and she was patted on the back, Olive appeared to recover quickly. By the following morning she was acting normally, and an urgent-care visit suggested everything was OK.
"They were like, oh yeah, she was probably just dehydrated, I think that you're fine. No, she doesn't have a fever, she doesn't have anything," Aubrey recalled.
Back at home, the family's pediatrician agreed and said that it could have been a febrile seizure, or it could also have been dehydration.
A febrile seizure is a seizure triggered by a fever or rapid rise in body temperature and is generally considered common in young children .
"They were unclear," Aubrey said.
Two months later, on September 2, Olive experienced another episode.
After a family dinner, Aubrey buckled her daughter into a car seat and got behind the wheel.
"I just felt like, check on Olive," she said. "I looked up in the rear-view mirror and she was seizing in the car seat."
Aubrey pulled her daughter onto the pavement while a relative called 911. Olive was taken to hospital, where doctors determined she had a slight fever.
The next day, Aubrey took Olive to see her pediatrician who told her that febrile seizures are common in children.
After discussing options, the family decided against further neurological testing and instead monitored Olive closely whenever she appeared unwell.
Then came the night of November 1.
Aubrey was coaching volleyball when David called. He had gone to check on Olive before bed and found she wasn't breathing.
"When he called me, I just kept thinking there's no way," Aubrey said. "She's going to be OK and we're going to get a miracle."
From left: Olive, Aubrey, Tanner and David Tenney pose for a portrait outside.
By the time she reached the hospital, doctors and first responders were still performing chest compressions.
"I just ran to her," Aubrey said. "I could see that there were no heart movements."
Despite their efforts, Olive could not be revived.
Over time, Aubrey and David came across information about Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC), a condition in which a child dies unexpectedly and remains unexplained even after a thorough investigation.
Some research such as a January 2024 study published in Neurology by NYU Grossman School of Medicine has identified a possible association between SUDC and a history of febrile seizures, though not all children who experience febrile seizures go on to develop complications .
Today, Aubrey shares Olive's story on TikTok (@aubreytenney) in the hope of raising awareness.
"I don't want people to live in fear," she said. "Her story is not to scare people. It's just to shed light and I just want there to be awareness."
The family also continues to celebrate Olive's life each year.
On her birthday, they eat edamame, wear olive green and spend time together remembering a little girl whose light, Aubrey said, still shines brightly.
"We have olive trees everywhere," she said. "My curtains are olive; everything about me is olive now. My twins know about her; we say her name. She is everywhere."
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Charlotte Nisbet and James Debens
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