A healthy nurse has died 24 hours after learning she had tuberculosis. Carrianne Franks was hospitalised for nine weeks with a mystery illness before doctors discovered it was TB.
The 30-year-old sent her mum a text after her diagnosis, saying: “Mum, they found out what I have. I’ve got TB.”
She was rushed to intensive care where she entered a coma. Within hours, Carrianne had tragically died, passing away before her devastated parents were able to get to the hospital to say their final goodbye, reports Birmingham Live.
The nurse, from the Midlands, had worked in healthcare for ten years and helped treat patients with Covid during the first wave of the pandemic. The keyworker also volunteered at a Nightingale Hospital as the virus swept across the country.
Heartbroken mum Bev said: “Carrianne was there to save lives, she said this was her war. They never thought they would have to battle through something like that.”
She fell ill for five weeks and was eventually given an autoimmune injection and five types of antibiotics before eventually being discharged. She was rushed back to hospital in an ambulance 72 hours later. Docs thought she was suffering unusual strain of pneumonia. Eventually, after weeks of tests, a diagnosis of TB was finally given by medics, and Carriane died shortly afterwards.
Speaking about the devastating text she received from her daughter, Bev said: “We were no more than 18 to 20 minutes getting there, but they had put her to sleep already, we didn’t get to say goodbye. She was a nurse and maybe she wanted it that way.”
Bev added: “We were gone less than 20 minutes and we had a call to say that she was really ill. We arrived and they were trying to resuscitate her, we watched them jumping on her chest, it was the worst thing to see. Carrianne died at 10.50 that morning.”
Dad Chris added: “She didn’t stand a chance. We didn’t even know about TB, they just didn’t test her early enough. I feel like somebody should be held accountable. My 30-year-old daughter is gone.
“She was in a respiratory ward and had nine weeks to be tested. She was fit and healthy, they were testing her for HIV, hepatitis, yellow fever, Covid, just not TB. If they had found it earlier, she could have been saved.”
He added: “This is so sad, Carrianne was so full of life and had everything to live for, we are broken and feel Carrianne was let down by the system.”
Prof Neil Mabbott, chair of immunopathology at Edinburgh University, previously told the Mirror: “Many of these diseases are preventable. Safe and effective vaccines are available and offered to children as part of their routine vaccination schedule. Unfortunately the indirect effects of the Covid-19 pandemic or other major disturbances including conflicts have limited the delivery of these vaccination programmes in some regions.
“Vaccine hesitancy in some populations has also had a major impact on the uptake of the MMR vaccine and other vaccines. The UK achieved WHO measles elimination status in 2017, but since then we have seen an emergence of measles as a consequence of lower MMR vaccine uptake.
"The increased prevalence of these infections is a stark reminder of why it is important that parents ensure that their children’s vaccination is fully up-to-date, and contact their GP there are gaps.”
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