Parents fundraising in memory of Heidi

ANDREW BARGH

A grieving Airdrie couple say they are “overwhelmed” by the support they’ve received following the tragic death of their beloved baby daughter.

Charlotte and Andrew Cooper are mourning the sudden passing of ninemonthold Heidi just weeks ago.

The infant awoke from an afternoon nap with a soaring temperature and would not stop crying. Concerned mum Charlotte took Heidi to University Hospital Wishaw but medics advised she was just suffering from a common sickness bug.

Tragically however, a rapid decline in little Heidi’s health saw her pass away from pneumococcal septicaemia just days later. It is thought she caught the infection from a stranger’s cough or sneeze. Charlotte and Andrew have now bravely spoken about the moments their daughter slipped away from them in an ICU.

The couple a re determined not to let Heidi’s death be “for nothing” and are now actively fundraising for sepsis research charity FEAT, as well as increasing awareness of symptoms so that other parents do not have to suffer similar heartache.

Charlotte told the Advertiser: “We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of the donations to Heidi’s Just Giving page by friends, family and people we haven’t met but who have been moved by Heidi’s story.

“I remember crying when we had raised £350, so you can imagine how I feel now it is over £4500.

“Supporting Sepsis Research ( FEAT) was really important to us as they are a Scottish-based charity and do amazing work into researching and understanding sepsis so that better treatments can be found.

“Everyone’s support means so much to us; we are so very grateful.”

After their initial visit to Wishaw General, Charlotte believed Heidi was through the worst of her illness when she sat up in her high chair for breakfast – but just one day later she deteriorated rapidly.

Charlotte said: “She wasn’t really interested in food or milk which was not like her and just sat in her chair lifeless, her fever was also back.”

The panicked parents rushed Heidi back to hospital where she was kept in for observation, but her symptoms, including fever, vomiting and lethargy were all labelled by medics as a “virus”.

Doctors attempted to get a drip into Heidi to give her fluids and antibiotics before a team of medics flocked around her.

Charlotte said: “I started to realise something was very wrong when the nurses kept asking me if I had called Andrew to come back to the hospital.

“Even one of the doctors told me that Heidi was septic and might have to be transferred to an ICU in Glasgow or Edinburgh, I still didn’t ever believe that she might not survive.

“Andrew came back to hospital and saw Heidi move on her own for the last time but by now she was struggling to breathe on her own.

“We walked behind her as the team rushed her down the corridor to the theatre. Sadly, Heidi vomited as she was in the bed just before she reached surgery and her heart stopped.

“I will never forget the moment I saw doctors giving her CPR. I collapsed to the floor screaming ‘no, no, no’ and Andrew had to drag me out the room.”

Heidi’s heart stopped for two minutes and vomit went into her lungs but doctors managed to revive the stricken tot.

The devastated parents were taken to a waiting room while staff came by ambulance from Glasgow to take Heidi to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

Charlotte and Andrew were told she might not survive the 20- minute journey.

The devastated mum said: “I never believed Heidi was dangerously ill, I didn’t understand she was in a life or death situation.

“Even when the mobile ICU team told us she might not survive the journey, I thought ‘she’ll make it, she’s so strong’.”

The couple didn’t find out Heidi was severely septic until meeting two doctors at Wishaw Hospital the following week.

They were then given the earth-shattering news that Heidi’s brain had been left without a blood supply for some time and she was brain dead.

Charlotte said: “I pleaded with the doctor that he could be wrong, that the test could be done again, but this was it, there was no hope any more.”

On July 11, Heidi died f rom pneumococcal septicaemia.

Babies are vaccinated against pneumococcal bacteria, but Heidi caught a strain that is not included in vaccinations, from a stranger’s cough or sneeze.

The bacteria caused her to develop sepsis and also meningitis.

“Looking at Heidi and touching her cold head, listening to the sounds of all the machines she was hooked up to, I knew she was gone,” Charlotte recalled.

“We had all the family there when we switched off the machines on the Thursday night. I held her in my arms as she was pronounced dead. It was the worst moment of our lives.”

Heidi’s funeral was held on July 23, at what her family described as a “personal and special day”.

Pink, blue and white balloons were let off after the service, and the family have since planted a tree in their garden with Heidi’s ashes at the roots – in the hope they can watch her tree blossom.

A JustGiving page has been set up in Heidi’s honour to raise money for sepsis research and can be found at www.justgiving. com/ fundraising/ heidicooper19.

The family are also participating in next month’s Edinburgh Kiltwalk. To donate, please visit www. edinburghkiltwalk2019. everydayhero. com/ uk/ baby-heidi-cooper