Some tragedies begin with a tiny mistake — one so small it’s almost invisible. For one Florida mother, that single misplaced dot changed her entire world. And today, she’s speaking out so no other family has to face the same heartbreak.

Two-year-old De’Markus Jeremiah Page arrived at the hospital with simple, treatable symptoms — vomiting, diarrhea, and fatigue. Doctors discovered his potassium levels were dangerously low and rushed him to a larger hospital in Gainesville for specialized care. His mother trusted the team there. She believed her little boy was finally safe.

But in the quiet shuffle of medical orders, a tiny decimal point disappeared. The prescribed potassium dose — meant to be 1.5 mmol — was accidentally entered as 15 mmol, ten times stronger. To make matters worse, De’Markus was already receiving potassium through two other treatments. No one questioned it. No one stopped it.

Within hours, his potassium levels climbed to fatal levels. His small heart went into cardiac arrest.

And the heartbreak only deepened. “They didn’t even know he had coded,” the family’s statement said. When staff finally realized what happened, they struggled for more than 20 minutes to intubate him — a delay that caused catastrophic brain damage.

De’Markus was declared brain dead. His mother held him as he took his final breaths.

“Every day I wake up looking for my son,” she said. “He didn’t have to die.”

The family’s lawsuit argues this was an avoidable tragedy — a reminder of how fragile life is, and how much trust we place in the hands of others. Their hope now is simple: better safety, better oversight, and no more lost children because of preventable mistakes.