Putnam: Spartan hockey fan Brittany Van Hoogen dies 9 days after cheering for her team

Note: Story has been updated with the time of memorial service.

LANSING – Small kindnesses do matter.

Brittany Van Hoogen, who faced down terrible infections last year that caused the amputation of both legs and her right arm, was hospitalized over the weekend and died at Sparrow Hospital Monday. She was 26.

The 2010 Waverly High School graduate and Spartan hockey fan spent nine months in the hospital, mostly at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. An abscessed tooth led to an infection of her heart and sepsis. She finally came home Dec. 18.

Before she died, her spirits were boosted by well-wishers, especially those from the Spartan hockey program, her mother, Candice Van Hoogen, said.

The hockey team autographed a jersey and delivered it to her before the game she attended Jan. 6 against Ohio State. Brittany was “over the moon,” her mother reported.

“That day was so awesome to her,” she said.

In fact, Brittany wore the jersey the next day to dialysis in East Lansing.

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Since she came home the week before Christmas, Brittany and Candice were able to go to a casino, see two movies and celebrate with a homecoming party. But most of all, Brittany enjoyed the hockey game. Before her illness, she worked as an usher at Spartan hockey games for several seasons.

Candice Van Hoogen said Brittany's death wasn’t unexpected after doctors recently found an untreatable growth on her heart. But she thought she and Brittany would have more time together.

They were making plans for the summer.

Brittany’s saga started with flulike symptoms in March. She was close to death several times but managed to survive a long operation to repair her heart. She told her doctors to keep fighting for her even as she faced amputations.

Candice Van Hoogen said her daughter was hospitalized again on Saturday after she felt ill. Her blood pressure was so low there was no reading.

When medical staff asked to put in a central line to deliver medication and fluids through her neck, Brittany refused. Candice Van Hoogen said it looked like the struggle to fight infections was starting all over again.

“She still wanted to fight, but she was scared, and she was tired,” her mother said.

She said a nurse woke her early Monday morning as she slept in her daughter’s hospital room, as she has for much of the last year.

Staff was trying to resuscitate Brittany. Candice Van Hoogen said she left and made a call and then came back.

“They were still trying to save her and shock her. I just told them to stop. It was enough,” she said.

She said among Brittany's last words were "I love you."

"We said that to each other often," Van Hoogen said.

Michigan State University Professor Sue Carter, who befriended the Van Hoogens after their story was published in the State Journal last summer, said in an email that she admired the strength of both women.

Candice Van Hoogen was a fierce advocate for her daughter, while Brittany, though physically diminished, gained emotional strength, said Carter, who is the MSU faculty athletic representative and a chaplain.

“She was willing to fight through so many medical complications she faced,” Carter said.

She also said the hockey team’s impact is a good lesson.

“What may have seemed a small act meant the world to Brittany. It’s a reminder that little actions and gifts can have a great impact,” Carter said.

Services will be held at 2 p.m. Monday at the Skinner Funeral Home in Eaton Rapids with visitation at 1 p.m. Monday. A Go Fund Me account, set up by a childhood friend of Candice Van Hoogen, is collecting funds to help the family with expenses and funeral costs. 

Judy Putnam is a columnist with the Lansing State Journal. Contact her at (517) 267-1304 or at jputnam@lsj.com. Follow her on twitter @judyputnam.