Family: Medical treatments stopped for Willy Wonka actress Denise Nickerson after medical emergency

PHOENIX (FOX 10) -- Family members of Denise Nickerson said Wednesday they have made a decision to switch off all medical equipment used to treat the Willy Wonka actress, who suffered a stroke in 2018.

In a number of posts made on an unverified Facebook page this week, family members said Nickerson, 62, had a "major medical emergency" Monday morning and suffered additional seizures on Tuesday, resulting in pulmonary and respiratory distress, including pneumonia and excessive carbon dioxide in her blood. On Wednesday morning, family members said they have decided to switch off the equipment as they made Nickerson even more uncomfortable.

As of Wednesday night, family members said Nickerson was still alive.

"She's still not going to improve at all, she's just going very slowly," the post read.

Family members also refuted media reports that she was taken off life support, claiming she was never put on life support because she has a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order in place. They said the medical machines that are now switched off consist of an oxygen pump, in addition to machines that ran IV drips with antibiotic and anti-seizure medications.

According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), Nickerson played Violet Beauregarde in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Besides that role, she also acted in a number of television series and television movies. Her last film role was in the 1978 movie "Zero to Sixty".