How sepsis left this baby on the brink of death in just an hour
...but parents’ quick-thinking saved their 11-week-old girl
WHEN her baby daughter started to make a grunting noise, quick-thinking Katie Goulbourn decided to take her to the GP.
Little more than an hour later, baby Chloe was in A&E as doctors fought to keep the barely responsive 11-week-old alive.
But – thanks to the actions of her parents – Chloe, who had been struck down by sepsis, was saved.
Every 30-minute delay in treating a sepsis patient increases the risk of death by 7 per cent, meaning if Miss Golbourn, 28, and partner Tom Pierce, 33, had waited much longer Chloe could not have pulled through.
Miss Goulbourn, of Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, said the first problem she had noticed was that Chloe had stopped eating that morning. She began crying at 1pm, before developing the grunting noise as she struggled to breathe.
At 3.53pm, Miss Goulbourn sent Chloe’s father a video of the symptoms and fireman Mr Pierce said to take their baby to the doctor to ensure she was alright.
Thankfully, her GP called an ambulance immediately, suspecting straight away that she had contracted sepsis.
Miss Goulbourn, who also has a 15-month- old daughter, Sophie, said: ‘I went to the car park to fetch my phone. When I got back inside the surgery about seven people were clustered around Chloe putting an oxygen mask on her. That was when it finally hit home how seriously ill she was.’
In the ambulance, Chloe became increasingly unresponsive. ‘It was the longest journey of my life,’ her mother said.
‘I thought we’d lost her. When we finally got there, one of the paramedics picked up Chloe and the oxygen cylinder and ran into A&E. When we got inside Chloe was in resuscitation on an adultsized bed with eight or ten medics trying to stabilise her.
‘It was the worst thing I’ve ever seen. It took hold of Chloe with terrifying speed, and it’s only down to the care she received from everyone in the NHS that she’s still with us.’
The Daily Mail’s End The Sepsis Scandal campaign has battled to raise awareness of the condition – the leading cause of avoidable deaths, which kills 44,000 a year.
After Chloe arrived at hospital on January 16, it took 48 hours to confirm she had sepsis and she was discharged after a week.
‘You wouldn’t know anything had happened – she’s smiling all the time and putting on weight,’ her mother said. ‘I’m just so grateful to everyone who helped save her – we owe them everything.’
Now recruitment consultant Miss Goulbourn has released the video of Chloe to highlight the signs of the deadly condition.
In babies, symptoms can include making grunting sounds while breathing, mottled skin and a very high or low temperature.
The condition develops when an infection leads to the immune system attacking the body’s organs. Chloe’s sepsis had been caused by an infection Miss Goulbourn suffered during pregnancy, which struck when Chloe’s immune system was weakened by a cold.
Dr Ron Daniels, of the UK Sepsis Trust, said: ‘We would urge parents to always trust their instincts and ask a medical professional, “Could it be sepsis?”’
‘Took hold at terrifying speed’