GIRL, 7, DIES DAYS AFTER BEING ‘SENT HOME WITH CALPOL’
Family’s tribute to Isabellaann after ‘blood clot’ tragedy:
ASEVEN-YEAR-OLD girl died after having a blood clot in her heart just days after being sent home from her GP and told to take Calpol.
When Cardiff schoolgirl Isabellaann Battiscombe started to feel unwell around two weeks ago her GP said it was a tummy bug.
But her condition continued to deterioriate, and eight days ago – on February 12 – the “happy, bubbly, funny little girl” died in hospital.
Parents Janine, 40, and Steven Battiscombe, 49, took her to the GP just days before because she was sick and could hardly walk.
Yesterday Janine, from Cardiff, said: “She was being sick and we thought she had a tummy bug.
“I took her to the doctors the next day and that doctor said ‘it’s a tummy bug, go home, give her some Calpol and maybe paracetamol’.
“She started being more unwell. She didn’t want to get up, she even asked her daddy if he could pick her up to go to the toilet and I said there’s something wrong here.”
After then speaking to a different doctor a few days later, the young girl was sent to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff for a suspected chest infection.
Janine had to stay home to look after her two other children, aged five and 15, while Steven went to the hospital.
Doctors began treatment for a chest infection and she initially seemed to respond well.
Before he went, her mum described her as doing “OK” and was able to walk to the bathroom, but she was still describing being in pain with heavy breathing.
Then on February 11 the family were informed their daughter would be taken to another part of the hospital, not realising she was being transferred to intensive care.
Janine said: “The next minute I’m being called by my husband saying ‘she’s being taken to intensive care’.
“They’re shoving all these pipes in her everywhere and pumping different things into her.”
Janine then arrived at the hospital, and was told how serious her daughter’s condition was.
Janine said: “How did she get so ill? Then all of a sudden they said they might have to transfer her to Bristol to have an emergency operation for her heart because of the blood clot.
“They let us see her and then a couple of minutes after they said you’re going to have to get ready so you can go to Bristol yourselves.”
The pair went off to get petrol and sort out childcare, but shortly afterwards the hospital called and told them to return straight away as their daughter had taken a “turn for the worse”.
They arrived at the room where Isabellaann was being cared for, when a senior doctor informed them she had died.
Janine said: “They were explaining some of the stuff but I couldn’t understand it because my head had just gone. It just knocked me for six.
“From start to finish, from going to the doctors to going to the hospital and when she died, I just don’t understand why they took so long to diagnose her.
“We’re just devastated.” A post-mortem examination found that she had suffered from a pulmonary embolism, the family said.
Paying tribute to their daughter Janine added: “She was a happy, bubbly, funny little girl. Always with a smile on her face.
“She loved her school and she had a lot of friends. She was just the life and soul of everything.
“When she would walk into a room it’d light up. She was just a little angel. I just want her back.”
The head teacher of Isabellaann’s school also paid tribute, describing the young pupil as having “the most beautiful smile”.
Sian Voyce, head teacher of Hywel Dda Primary School, said: “It is with the deepest sadness that I am sharing news of the sudden death of our dearest Year 3 pupil, Isabellaann Battiscombe, following a short illness.
“I know that you will all wish to join me in offering our sincere condolences to her mum and dad and all her family, at this tragic time.
“We have known lsabellaann for many years, she was a kind little girl, with the most beautiful smile. We are all heartbroken.”
A Gofundme page has now been set up to help the family, with more than £750 raised.
Donations can he made by visiting uk.gf.me/v/c/gfm/in-memory-ofisabellaann.
A spokesperson for the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board said: “Our condolences are with the family at this incredibly sad time.
“The family are receiving additional support from our bereavement nurse and they will continue to support them.”
Also by Y Lolfa: