Bridgette Odens, a 2017 graduate of Chase County Schools (CCS), died during the early morning hours last Friday in Lincoln.
A sophomore at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, she was studying business and accounting.
According to her parents, Becky and Kyle Odens of Imperial, Bridgette had fallen on Feb. 22 from a stool in her apartment and landed on her counter in her “bottom and hip area.”
She was later admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Bryan West Medical Center in Lincoln.
While in the ICU, Bridgette was able to communicate with doctors, her parents and sister Courtney, a sophomore at CCS.
The doctors had to talk to her for surgery, Becky said.
She was able to mouth words around her ventilator tube that had been placed to help her breathe.
Bridgette was able to write at times, as well as text on her sister’s phone.
“They also had an alphabet on a piece of paper and she would tell us a word and then would tell us when it was the end of the word,” Becky said.
“She got frustrated because a lot of times we didn’t know what she was saying if she was just mouthing it to us but we felt she needed to rest and not get worked up.”
Bridgette’s death was caused by complications from the fall.
“Compartment syndrome was probably the first thing that happened,” Becky said, “and then (the doctors) found out that she had strep in her system which caused a flesh-eating bacteria.”
Compartment syndrome is caused by pressure buildup from internal bleeding or swelling of tissues.
Surgery was performed on Feb. 26 to relieve that pressure, Becky said.
“Before she even went into surgery for that the doctor said they would do everything they could to save her leg and her life,” she added. “So it was that serious already on Tuesday.”
Bridgette struggled with her blood pressure and heart rate after that surgery.
“One would be low and the other one high or vice versa,” Becky said.
Bridgette was placed on medication to help regulate both her heart rate and blood pressure, but it also took the blood supply away from her outer extremities.
That, in turn, prompted another surgery to remove the right side of her bowel.
“When she came in, her kidney function was at I think 17 percent,” Becky said.

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