A mum claims she was accused of abusing her baby after he developed mysterious bruises before a blood test later confirmed he had leukaemia. Beth Reilly, 23, became worried when her son Bailey Kilbane, now 16 months old, started coming out in unexplained bruises and flu-like symptoms last October.
The young mum said Bailey appeared "happy and smiley" but she instinctively knew that something was not right with his health, the Liverpool ECHO reports. Beth and her partner, Brandon, also 23, took their son to the doctors after bruises began appearing on his legs which didn't heal for over three weeks.
However, GPs and hospital doctors insisted that there was nothing wrong with little Bailey but Beth was not so convinced and requested further tests. The mum claims that while she was at Arrowe Park, medics asked if she was abusing her son.
The mum was left horrified by the question, but the hospital told her it is standard procedure to ensure the safety of the patients in its care. Beth said: "If you're worried, you need to press them to get tests done. I still often think back to the experience and it was horrible to be questioned about abusing your own child - but I know that they needed to do it.
"It made me feel bad and uncomfortable, but I knew that I had done nothing to harm him - so I'm happy I went through with it. What abusive mother would take her child to the hospital six times in a week anyway?"
After a blood test, Bailey was later sadly diagnosed with leukaemia. Although the tot is still happy, his mum says it's clear he has been "knocked" by the illness, as he is often tired and struggles to eat, so is mostly fed through a tube.
Beth first noticed something was wrong with her baby when he suddenly became very tired, cold and was falling over a lot, picking up more than a dozen bruises.
She added: “People always just say that you know when your child is not right, and just at that moment that week I felt that. He was smiling, but I could just tell that there was something not right - you'd just look at him and he would look right through you back."
After being referred to Arrowe Park Hospital by the GP, Beth was grilled by medics. She said: "Because I had no explanation for the bruises, when I was eventually referred to the hospital, I was questioned about it over and over by two nurses and a consultant together. It upset me, but I understood that they just needed to do it.
"They at first said that they were not worried and sent me home, but I later came back three more times. Eventually I said that I was not leaving unless they did a blood test, and they agreed to keep him in overnight and did tests that morning.
"I think that's just because he's such a happy baby. He doesn't seem sick because he's just so smiley. Then a few hours later the doctor came back with her head down and a few other nurses behind her - that was when I found out about his B cell lymphoblastic leukaemia.”
A Wirral University Teaching Hospital spokesperson said: “While we are unable to comment on individual cases, to ensure patient confidentiality, we can confirm that the Trust has safeguarding procedures in place that follow national legislation for both adults and children.
"This ensures the safety of the patients in our care and may mean staff will ask further questions when determining the cause of an illness or injury. We recognise that this can be distressing for parents, and so we ensure the utmost respect is given to them where any questions are raised.
"We hope that parents and carers will understand that it is a necessary and important aspect of our safeguarding responsibilities.” Brave little Bailey has already had a bone marrow biopsy, three rounds of chemotherapy and is undergoing a spinal lumbar puncture every two weeks.
His family have started a GoFundMe to help raise funds for their sick child.
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