Our beautiful baby boy died in our arms on his first birthday – asking a simple question earlier could’ve saved him
LITTLE Archie passed away in his parents arms in the early hours of his first birthday, after a devastating fight against sepsis.
Despite despite the tot presenting signs of the deadly infection, doctors didn’t flag them until it was too late.
“If the question ‘Could it be sepsis?’ was asked earlier, it could have saved his life,” former paramedic Nikki Jurcutz from Tiny Hearts Education wrote in a post about Archie.
She shared his story in the hopes that more families could learn about the devastating condition.
Archie’s family brought him to the emergency department after he’d had intermittent fever for two days, while peeing and drinking less and less.
A fine rash had also started to appear on the little tot’s back and tummy, the wrote in a blog posted to Tiny Hearts’ website.
They arrived at 9:30am on a Sunday but Archie was only admitted to a bed around 3pm.
From then, doctors concentrated on trying to get Archie to pee, despite the tot deteriorating and becoming more lethargic.
His mum wrote: “I explained to the doctor that Archie had never acted like this before when sick.
“He’d had Covid at four months old and had every bug from daycare, and I had never ever seen him like this, yet the focus was still on his urine output.”
A report into Archie’s care his parents received five months later found that doctors should have only spent four hours trying to get him to urinate, as is the standard protocol – not 10.
There were also some early signs that he could have had sepsis, but a pathway to confirm or treat this was not set in motion until too late, the report revealed.
By 8:30pm, the little boy was “continuing to go downhill, he was completely floppy, and the rash was getting worse” .
But he wasn’t moved to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) until 2am the next day.
Early that morning, “a heavy blue-ish rash started to appear” on little Archie and he seemed more agitated.
As doctors wanted to sedate Archie to allow his body to rest and intubate him, they urged the tot’s parents to grab some sleep.
But when they were shaken awake just 30 minutes later by a doctor and nurse, Archie’s mum immediately knew something was very wrong.
Her baby had gone into cardiac arrest – meaning his heart had stopped pumping blood around his body.
She recalled: “Running down the corridor to his room, I don’t think anyone could have prepared us for what we were about to see, what felt like 20 doctors and nurses around our poor little boy, trying to bring him back to life.
“I remember the nurse holding my body up, and I yelled to Archie, telling him that I was here.”
Though medics were able to restart Archie’s heart, he went into cardiac arrest another two times.
“By this time, our little boy was almost unrecognisable. He was so swollen and blue,” his mum wrote.
Later that day, Archie’s parents were told their son had two common cold viruses and a bacterial infection known as Group A Streptococcus – known as Strep A – which had turned into sepsis.
With doctors saying that Archie would have severe brain damage if he survived – and that he might need his limbs amputated because of lack of blood flow – his parents were forced to have “the worst conversation of [their] lives”.
They made the agonising decision turn off the machines and let their beautiful baby boy go.
“We requested the doctors to please just help us get him to his first birthday, which was the very next day,” Archie’s mum wrote.
“At midnight, as it changed to August 23, balloons filled the room as we sang happy birthday for the first and only time to Archie, surrounded by our closest family. My husband and I then cuddled up in Archie’s room to sleep together, one last time.”
She held little Archie the next morning as they turned off the machine and he took his last few breaths.
“For all parents out there, please fight for the right care for your kids,” the tiny tot’s mum and dad wrote.
“Our kids are the most precious gift of all. No one knows our kids better than we do, and they are worth fighting for.”
What are the signs of sepsis?
Sepsis is a life threatening reaction an infection, which happens when your immune system overreacts and starts to damage your body’s own tissues and organs.
According to the NHS, its symptoms can at times be hard to spot.
But you should call 999 or go A&E immediately if your baby or young child has:
- blue, grey, pale or blotchy skin, lips or tongue – on brown or black skin, this may be easier to see on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet
- a rash that does not fade when you roll a glass over it
- difficulty breathing, breathlessness or breathing very fast – you may notice grunting noises or their stomach sucking under their ribcage
- a weak, high-pitched cry that’s not like their normal cry
- not responding like they normally do, or not interested in feeding or normal activities
- being sleepier than normal or difficult to wake
Bear in mind that your child might not have all of these symptoms.