HANNAH Charman was overjoyed when she gave birth to little Ash, quickly settling into a happy, healthy routine.
But she was blissfully unaware he was developing a life-threatening condition that almost ripped their family apart.
sepsistrustBaby Ash developed sepsis at just six weeks old[/caption]
sepsistrustHe has since made a full recovery, but mum Hannah Charman wants to warn other parents[/caption]
Ash was later rushed to hospital with sepsis – a dangerously difficult-to-spot reaction to an infection which kills 11million people globally every year.
Thankfully, he survived. But Hannah wants to urge other parents to trust their instincts and seek urgent medical attention for their child as they might not be so lucky.
She said: “If you are worried, speak to someone.
“And if you are still worried after that, speak to someone else.”
Hannah was enjoying life with her second child in September 2021 when at six weeks old he started to get sick.
He was vomiting and clearly in distress, so she took him to the GP.
The doctor said it was a bad case of reflux and prescribed Gaviscon, but two days later Ash had turned worryingly yellow.
The family’s health visitor brushed it off as newborn jaundice and Hannah continued with life as normal.
Ash then started to deteriorate rapidly. He was cold to the touch, staring at one spot and had fewer wet nappies than usual.
Hannah, with the support of her partner and parents, rushed him to A&E.
She said: “It was just something in my gut that told us ‘something’s wrong here, we need to get help’, so that’s what we did.”
On arrival at the hospital, a paediatrician took one look at Ash and said he needed to be admitted right away.
He had sepsis caused by an unknown infection, possibly a UTI, and his liver and kidneys were shutting down.
Hannah said: “We got blue-lighted after the first 24 hours to a specialist unit in a different hospital and that’s when we realised actually this is very, very serious.”
What followed was a two-week stay in ICU and a year’s worth of tests to see if Ash had a condition which made him susceptible to infection.
The ordeal was made particularly difficult as Covid restrictions meant Hannah was often left alone in hospital.
“It was just awful. It was very, very lonely,” she said.
“All the noises felt like a war zone.
“It was just very traumatic, and you have to do it all by yourself and be strong for your child.”
It was very traumatic, and you have do it all by yourself and be strong for your child.
Hannah Charman
Eventually, after a blood transfusion and treatment, Ash started to seem more like himself.
Hannah said: “In the morning it just seemed like he smiled for the first time which was amazing.
“But to get milk back after over a week without breastfeeding, it was really hard.
“We had to supplement the full amount until I could breastfeed full-time again. It took a lot of work.”
Hannah was eventually diagnosed with PTSD, and accessed counselling to help her process this difficult chapter.
Thankfully, though, Ash has since been given the all-clear as a healthy little boy.
Now one-and-a-half, he is “very, very happy” at nursery.
“You wouldn’t even know how ill he was when he was a newborn,” the mum-of-two said.
“He’s into climbing and cars and all sorts of things.”
MUM’S GUILT
While seeking support, Hannah found the UK Sepsis Trust and discovered she was not alone in her experience.
She connected with others who had gone through the same hell, but still felt more could be done to equip new mums and dads with the knowledge they need to recognise signs of sepsis and act quickly.
She said: “You have regular midwife appointments and antenatal classes but it’s never mentioned, even as a precaution.
“You don’t want to panic anyone, but the information should be there as a consideration if something does go wrong.”
Hannah has struggled with feeling guilty that she could have noticed Ash was poorly sooner – but her husband had been making a one-second-a-day video of his life at the time which helped change her perspective.
She said: “My therapist took that video and asked her colleagues, ‘At what point do you see this baby boy becoming ill?’
“It came back that no one saw how sick he was until they saw the NG tubes and he was actually in hospital.
“That helped assuage some of the guilt.”
Reflecting on the first year of Ash’s life, Hannah added: “Looking back at what happened, I wonder whether we could have changed anything.
“Could I have done anything differently or noticed anything sooner?
“In our case, sepsis is something even a medical professional missed.
“And because of this, I want to do something positive.
“What I can do now is raise awareness by sharing my story.”
Since Ash’s recovery, Hannah has shared her story with her colleagues at Aviva and at her son’s nursery and children’s playgroups.
What is sepsis?
SEPSIS is a life-threatening reaction to an infection.
It happens when your immune system overreacts to an infection and starts to damage your body’s own tissues and organs.
You cannot catch sepsis from another person.
Sepsis is sometimes called septicaemia or blood poisoning.
The most common symptoms in babies and young children include:
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, the same as meningitis
Difficulty breathing (you may notice grunting noises or their stomach sucking under their rib cage), breathlessness or breathing very fast
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
In adults and older children, the following can be signs of sepsis:
Acting confused, slurred speech or not making sense
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, the same as meningitis
Difficulty breathing, breathlessness or breathing very fast
Sepsis can be especially hard to spot in:
Babies and young children
People with dementia
People with a learning disability
People who have difficulty communicating
According to the World Health Organization, around 11million die from sepsis every year – many of them children.
Source: NHS and the UK Sepsis Trust