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A 5-year-old girl’s sudden paralysis was a mystery. Then her mother checked her scalp.

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The 5-year-old kept trying to stand but fell every time. She was also struggling to speak, her mother Jessica Griffin noticed.

Her daughter had been fine when the family went out to a T-ball game the night before, Midway, Florida, NBC-affiliate WLBT in Jackson, Miss., reported. Maybe Kailyn was having a hard time waking up Wednesday morning, or perhaps her legs were asleep.

She had gathered Kailyn’s hair to put it in a ponytail when she spotted the arachnid , embedded in the girl’s scalp, swelled with the girl’s blood.

She pulled the tick out and placed it in a plastic bag, then rushed to the hospital with Kailyn, WTXL reported.