A toddler was discovered to have hepatitis after her concerned parents noticed she had turned yellow.
Natasha and Alisdair Castle-Smith watched their "totally fit and healthy child" become seriously unwell as her liver began to fail.
Now they want to speak out on this strange symptom in the hope other parents can be more prepared.
The two-year-old, Fiadh, from Belfast was taken to A&E in Dundonald at the start of April, after her parents noticed the child's skin and the whites of her eyes were yellow, reports BelfastLive.
"Fiadh has never had a history of anything, she is a totally fit and healthy child," Natasha said.
"The Monday before this all happened, she was napping a little bit more and had gone off her food a little bit. When she woke from her nap, I had noticed she looked a bit yellow but thought it could have just been the lighting in the room.
"I had gone to work on the Friday and I had a message from my mum to say that the whites of her eyes had turned yellow, so my husband brought her to the GP that afternoon who examined Fiadh and made sure that she was OK. He had told us that if we had any more concerns to call them at the surgery.
"On the Saturday, she was still well but yellow in colour, so we called the Out of Hours doctor and we were told to go to A&E for blood tests. Fiadh's ASTs, which is one of her liver function tests, was in the thousands.
"She was admitted from there and at the time the consultant had told us that there were a few cases of Hepatitis in the mainland and that we'd be careful because it's potentially what Fiadh had.
"Wednesday came around then and Fiadh was becoming more unwell. We were transferred to Birmingham Children's Hospital then, ever though they were the team liaising with the doctors at home. Thy thought it was best that we were over with them, to cut out the middle man really."
Fiadh, Natasha and Alisdair were brought to Birmingham by Air Ambulance, and from there, things got progressively worse for the toddler.
On the first day, Thursday, they spent days getting tests done and two days later, Fiadh was put on the urgent liver transplant list late on Saturday evening.
Alisdair explained that the wait for him and wife was an extremely difficult time for them.
He said: "Every time a children's TV show ended, we hoped we'd be getting that phonecall, and we then did.
"Fiadh was transplanted on the Tuesday and they had said it would be around six to eight hours, but it took six hours in total. After the transplant, she was in ICU for four days before she was moved onto the ward."
Recovering well from her major surgery, the brave toddler was allowed to go home again after a couple of weeks.
And while Fiadh will now take medication for the rest of her life, it is hoped she will be able to live a normal a life as possible.
"Fiadh has totally picked up since getting home," Natasha added.
"When she got home, she was playing with her toys and that is like a rehab for Fiadh because she does be very tired after playing. She was up there for ages just playing away.
"We came home on the Thursday and on the Saturday, my niece called round and they just played in the garden. It was good for the soul to see her smile again.
"By doing this, speaking out, we want to raise awareness about hepatitis and the symptoms associated with it - we wouldn't want this to happen to any other child.
"It's also give hope to other people who may be going through this. Fiadh is that hope. She is a miracle."
Dr Jane Hartley, consultant at Birmingham Children's Hospital, told ITV News that Fiadh is now needing monitoring to make sure her new liver is functioning well.
"For the families, this is very difficult," Dr Hartley added.
"These are really very well children who don't have any illnesses before they develop this jaundice."
The NHS has advised parents that if their children develop any symptoms, similar to Fiadh's, to contact their GP.
A spokesperson said: "The number of cases of hepatitis in children has increased recently. Public health doctors and scientists are looking into what could be causing this.
"See a GP if your child has symptoms of hepatitis, including yellowing of the eyes and skin (jaundice)."
Short-term, or acute hepatitis often has no noticeable symptoms, so you may not realise you have it, health officials have warned.
If symptoms do develop, they can include:
- Muscle and joint pain
- A high temperature
- Feeling and being sick
- Feeling unusually tired all the time
- A general sense of feeling unwell
- Loss of appetite
- Tummy pain
- Dark urine
- Pale, grey-coloured poo
- Itchy skin
- Yellowing of the eyes and skin (jaundice)
See your GP if you have any persistent or troublesome symptoms that you think could be caused by hepatitis.
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