A 12-year-old girl is fighting for her life in critical condition after contracting a rare and extremely deadly brain-eating amoeba while swimming at an Arkansas water park.

Kali Hardig is the second person to have come down with primary amoebic meningoencephalitis in three years after swimming in the sandy-bottom lake at Willow Springs Water Park near Little Rock, Arkansas.

Only two people in the world are known to have survived the extremely rare Naegleria infection since the Centers for Disease Control began tracking it in 1962.

Karli’s family is praying for her to be the third survivor.

Tragic: Kali Hardig, 12, is in critical condition after contracting a rare amoebic meningitis after she swam in a lake at a water park last week

Hope: Only two people in the world have survived amoebic meningitis and her friends and family members are praying that Kali will be the third

Kali’s mother Traci has had t-shirts made for Kali’s family and friends with a large, bold number ‘3’ beneath the word’s ‘Kali’s Krew.’

‘This is Kali’s Krew. Number three stands for the third person who will survive this amoeba disease. My daughter Kali,’ she told KLRT-TV.

‘We are just going to take baby steps, but other than that, she’s doing remarkable. She’s a little miracle,’

The condition is caused when the Naegleria parasite enters a patient’s brain, usually after accidentally inhaling stagnant, warm water up the nose while swimming.

Naegleria are be found in nearly every freshwater body of water – even lakes. But, they only become active when water heats up.

The cruel irony of the parasite is that the risk is highest when the temperature is hottest – and swimmers are looking for a reprieve from the heat.

Closed: The owners of Willow Springs Water Park near Little Rock, Arkansas, have shut down the lake after learning of two reported cases of the deadly disease in three years

The CDC says there have been 128 cases of the disease in the U.S. in the last five decades – making the disease extremely rare, when compared to the number of lakes and muddy swimming holes Americans dip into for refuge from the summer heat each year.

Traci said she had no idea about the risks of swimming in warm lakes and had never heard of the disease.

‘You’re a mom, you’re a dad. You can still take your child swimming. We don’t want to scare people. We just want you to know there are little things you can do to help them out. So they can go and still be a kid,’ she said.

She encourages parents to make their children wear nose plugs while swimming – to minimize the risk of inhaling water through the nose and contracting the Naegleria parasite.

Read more: Daily Mail