Cancer patients describes ‘terrifying’ fits linked to QEUH infection

A YOUNG patient diagnosed with a rare cancer has told an inquiry she experienced “frightening” fits that were linked to a hospital-acquired infection.

Molly Cuddihy was told she had metastatic Ewing’s sarcoma when she was 15-years-old.

The now 19-year-old was cared for at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow (RHC) and the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow between January 2018 and 2020, where she was fitted with a line for treatment.

Not long into her chemotherapy, Ms Cuddihy said her body went into septic shock – a life-threatening condition that happens when your blood pressure drops to a dangerously low level after an infection. She also described her rigors – episodes in which your temperature rises – as “crazy”.

The young patient was soon diagnosed with mycobacterium chelonae, an infection in her line that she later discovered came from the hospital environment – air or waterborne – and that had probably caused her temperature spikes and fits.

Speaking at a hearing yesterday, Ms Cuddihy said she had to take a “very strong” course of antibiotics she likened to bleach to treat the infection. She said: “The medication had horrible side-effects. I got a prolonged QT interval with my heart. This is when my heart pumps out the blood, but then doesn’t fill up fast enough, so I would often collapse.”

When Alastair Duncan QC, lead counsel to the inquiry, asked Ms Cuddihy about the impact of these episodes, she replied: “I was very frightened.”

The inquiry in Edinburgh continues. Health boards are due to give evidence at a later date.