Waking up her mother saved little Ella’s life
EVERY parent has had their child come into the bedroom complaining of feeling sick.
But for Jenna McFadzean it was the start of a horror story that saw her come within hours of losing her daughter.
Yesterday, Miss McFadzean, 27, told how four-year-old Ella had actually saved her own life by waking up in the early hours of February 27 with sore legs – because if she had slept for three hours longer, she would have died.
Ella ended up fighting for her life after developing a rare form of bacterial meningitis – less than 12 hours after she had been happily playing on her scooter.
She needed full life support, adrenaline infusions to keep her heart pumping
‘It happened so quickly, I was terrified’
and had heat straps attached to her hands and feet to prevent the need for amputation.
Ella also suffered a collapsed lung and was so ill that medical staff did not expect her to live. But remarkably, little over a month later she is back to her usual cheeky self.
Miss McFadzean, of Maybole, Ayrshire, who initially thought her daughter had a sickness bug, said: ‘It happened so quickly, from her being fine to fighting for her life. I was terrified, just hysterical. I don’t think I’ve any tears left to cry.
‘But she has come through it all with no lasting damage.’
When Ella began hallucinating after her temperature reached 120F, she was taken to Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock.
Doctors confirmed she had a rare form of bacterial meningitis and blood poisoning.
Miss McFadzean said: ‘Ella saved her own life by waking up when she did. At the hospital they said if it had been at 8am she would have been dead. It’s a scary thought because I’d normally have been waking her up at that time.’
After being transferred to the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow, doctors said it was ‘touch and go’ as to whether Ella would survive.
But she came off her ventilator after three days and made a speedy recovery, astounding everyone by returning to nursery less than a week after being allowed home.
Miss McFadzean said: ‘She got out of hospital and she was desperate to get back to nursery. She’s amazing.’
It was not the first time the young mother had heard doctors tell her she could lose a child.
In 2014 doctors sent her home with her daughter, Lucie, then two, three times in one weekend when they missed signs she was suffering from Type 1 diabetes.
Lucie, then two, became dangerously ill with diabetic ketoacidosis, a life-threatening condition in which the body starts to run out of insulin.
Now Miss McFadzean feels lucky to still have them both. She said: ‘Ella and Lucie are incredible.’
She is urging parents to be aware of the risks of bacterial meningitis, as one in ten who contracts the illness dies and one in 30 who survives is left with lasting damage.