A mum who thought her son had picked up a tummy bug after having a sleepover was stunned to discover it was deadly sepsis - that left him hospitalised for 11 days. Catherine Parkins said her 10-year-old son Beau Parkins returned home from his friend's house complaining of stomach pain but as she'd had a sickness bug the week before, assumed it was just that.
But two days later when the lad's condition didn't improve and he struggled to stand up straight, the concerned mum rushed him to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital's A&E department. There, it was discovered that Beau had sepsis as his appendix had perforated and was leaking toxins into his body - causing his inflammation rates to be around twenty times above normal.
After trying to alleviate the infection overnight, he was taken into theatre the following day for life-saving surgery to remove his appendix and clean up surrounding organs covered in the infection. The 40-year-old got Beau the medical help he needed just in the nick of time as she was told that if he'd fallen asleep that night, he could have died.
After the terrifying ordeal, the doggy daycare business owner is keen to raise awareness of sepsis' symptoms and of the importance of parents always trusting their gut instinct.
Catherine, from Fulham, said: "Beau was at a sleepover when he started having stomach pains and his friend's dad brought him home. I said 'oh, it must be a stomach bug' because a week before I had a sickness bug and just assumed it was that, but delayed. He was sick and did have a very slight temperature but nothing crazy. By the Sunday, he wasn't well and was sick but didn't have severe diarrhoea or anything. He'd had much worse sickness bugs.
"He rested and was able to eat and drink and it was all absolutely fine. On Monday morning I spoke to my doctor and was told 'it's been less than 48 hours, don't panic as there's a sickness bug going around'. That's when Beau got up off the sofa and he couldn't stand up straight and he just looked so weak."
Beau said: "I felt really tired and had stomach pain and as the day went on the pain got worse."
After initially suffering with stomach pain on January 29th, the mum-of-one took Beau to A&E two days later [Jan 31st] where he immediately had a blood test followed by IV antibiotics and morphine.
There, they discovered it was more than a run-of-the-mill tummy bug. Catherine said: "At the hospital they firstly couldn't believe that he was still conscious because of the inflammation levels and secondly that he was able to walk normally. Inflammation markers should be between one and ten and Beau's were over 200.
"They were shocked and ready to operate but wanted him to fight some of the infection by giving him IV and antibiotics to try and control things overnight. However, Beau became severely ill and we don't know if that was as a result of the morphine, IV, antibiotics or the toxins that were now leaking out of his appendix.
"He was able to walk into A&E but a few hours later he couldn't move or speak. He was almost unconscious for the rest of the time partly because of the levels of morphine they put him on. Even with the levels of morphine he had, he'd wake up in the night screaming.
"That's the leaking of the toxins from the appendix and the sepsis. Apparently, it genuinely feels like every part of you is dying. I spoke to Beau about it after and he said that everything hurt. Even touching his arm would hurt."
The business owner said that doctors suspected Beau's appendix could have been perforated for up to a fortnight given he'd occasionally complain of cramps after getting off the school bus. He had an appendectomy and his other organs were also cleaned up to try and remove as much of the infection as possible.
Catherine said: "Beau went into surgery and they explained to me that he had sepsis and that it was life-threatening. The surgeon came to speak to me and said 'listen, this is bad. This is sepsis. Whatever you do, don't start Googling the rates of recovery from sepsis, concentrate on Beau having an appendectomy and we're going to do everything that we can'.
"It was awful. It literally felt like the world stopped turning and I couldn't hear what she was saying and it was just echoes. That was the worst because I thought 'how can this be happening?' I kept saying to her 'he was ok yesterday morning'.
"After the surgery he just slept and would be in agony when he woke up. Because there was still a high level of infection in his stomach and pus pockets that still remained, they put a drain through his nose and down into his stomach.
"All the infection was building up and that helped to get rid of it. There was a bag of what I can only describe as this toxic-looking green stuff coming out of his stomach, they emptied it every hour at one point."
Beau was eventually discharged from hospital after 11 days. After a slow and steady recovery, he's now more or less back to his normal self although Catherine said that he does need to rest more than usual, otherwise he can become unwell.
The dog lover is now keen to share Beau's story to raise awareness of sepsis and its symptoms. Catherine said: "First of all, trust your instinct. Beau didn't have typical sepsis symptoms. However, I just had this horrible gut feeling as a parent that something wasn't right with my child.
"They said to me that if I had let him go to sleep that night, he wouldn't be here with us. Because Beau was ready for bed and I was like 'no, we're going to go up to hospital', I promised him that we'd only be five minutes.
"Sepsis just feels like such an unknown thing still. The number of people that I spoke to that had to Google it, it's not one of the most commonly known things Just go with your gut instinct as a parent - you do know when things aren't quite right for sure."
