Matlock mum shares son’s sepsis story to raise awareness of the life-threatening condition
A mother whose son was struck down by sepsis has thanked the quick actions of staff at Queen’s Medical Centre who saved her son’s life.
Felix Cole was just six-months-old when he started to show symptoms of bronchiolitis, a common respiratory tract infection that affects babies and children under two-years-old. However Felix’s mum, Jodie grew increasingly concerned when Felix appeared to be getting worse over the next week.
Jodie, from Matlock said: “It had been seven days and Felix still wasn’t himself. We went for a walk to get some fresh air, however his lips had gone pale and he was grunting. We got home, called 111 and they sent an ambulance. He was rushed to hospital where they found he had developed pneumonia and needed a chest drain – it was terrifying.”
Felix was then transferred to the Paediatric Critical Care Unit (PCCU) at Queen’s Medical Centre’s Nottingham Children’s Hospital, part of Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH), where he spent the next 12 days on the unit being treated for sepsis. This is when the body starts to attack itself in response to infection and if not treated sepsis can be life threatening.
Each month around 130 people of all ages come to NUH as an emergency with signs of sepsis, with more than 90% of patients receiving antibiotics within 1 hour of meeting the criteria.
Jodie added: “I cannot thank the staff at Queen’s Medical Centre enough for their support during what was an absolutely terrifying time. Felix is now two-years-old and has made a full recovery. The nurses were phenomenal caring for him and me, during what was a really sudden and scary time. We had not heard of sepsis until it happened to us.”
Early symptoms of sepsis in a child may include:
- child not behaving normally – more sleepy, less communicative
- looks mottled, bluish or pale
- Rash that does not fade when you press it
- severe shivering, a fit or convulsion
- a fast heartbeat
- fast breathing
- has not had a wee or a wet nappy for 12 hours
Dr Catarina Silvestre, Paediatric Intensivist Consultant at QMC said: “As soon as sepsis is recognised it is a race against the clock to deliver treatment to improve outcomes for patients. Clinical teams across NUH have set up action groups, training sessions for staff and have adopted guidelines to help recognise sepsis. Over a six month period over one million sepsis screens have been carried out to help identify sepsis promptly in patients across our hospitals.”
Sally Wood, Clinical Lead for Sepsis at NUH, said: “Significant work has been undertaken at NUH to improve care for the patients with sepsis over the last 10 years and Nottingham is now one of the leading centres for improvements in sepsis care.”
More information available here: https://sepsistrust.org/