My little boy died in my arms on his birthday, the four words that could have saved him that all parents must know
A MUM who lost her son to sepsis on his first birthday has urged parents with sick kids to consider a four-word question.
The life-threatening condition often stems from respiratory, abdominal or urinary infections.
In the case of Archie Read, it was a Group A streptococcal infection that turned septic and ultimately claimed his life in 2022.
His mum Kylie Read admits that initially ‘alarm bells weren’t going off’, who assumed her son was suffering from a standard issue infection, likely contracted at nursery.
When Archie hadn’t gone to the toilet for a prolonged period of time, she knew something wasn’t right, and took him to hospital.
What ensued was an hours-long wait in the emergency department, where the sole focus of staff was getting Archie to urinate, Kylie told news.com.au.
It was only when a nurse remarked on Archie’s demeanour while having a cannular inserted – and Kylie informed her that it wasn’t because her son was being calm, but because he was so lethargic “he couldn’t move” – that she felt her concern was finally taken seriously.
“They ended up putting a catheter in, and there were tubes coming out of what felt like everywhere, but still, nothing was making him wee,” Kylie said.
“And that was because all of his organs were shutting down because he had turned septic – but nobody knew that at this point.”
No closer to an answer, the Reads went to sleep in a nearby hospital room – only to be woken half an hour later by “banging at the door”.
“It was the nurse coming to say – I don’t even remember what she was saying, but she sat us down and she was saying all these words, and I’m just saying to her, ‘Is he alive? What’s happening? Get to the point’,” Kylie said.
“And she still didn’t answer me, so I took off down to his room, and that’s when we saw all of the doctors around him.
“He was in cardiac arrest, and they were trying to bring him back.”
Archie went into cardiac arrest twice more, was placed on dialysis, and had his stomach cut open “to try and drain fluids because he was just so swollen”.
By that point – having watched her little boy endure so much – “I didn’t even feel like I was in my own body”.
“We were just in shock. Nothing was making sense,” Kylie said.
“He had only been a bit grizzly the day before.
“But if somebody told me in 24 hours I’d be watching blood drip from his eyes and he’d be unrecognisable, there’s just no way I would’ve believed that.”
While he didn’t go into cardiac arrest again – a source of “minor comfort” – Archie’s body had taken all that it could.
“The doctors were 99.9 per cent sure that he was brain dead,” Kylie recalled.
“And because he’d turned septic, the blood had stopped pumping to all non-vital parts of his body. His hands were blue, his feet were blue, his head was turning blue as well.
“So they said, ‘There’s a chance all of that will need to be amputated, and that’s even if his organs do come back. Even if his organs do start to turn, and improve, he will be brain dead, and he’ll have to have those limbs amputated’.
“But it didn’t turn that way. His organs didn’t start to improve. His blood pressure was so low, no blood was pumping around to any of the important parts.”
With the inevitable on the horizon, his parents begged doctors “just to get him to midnight”, gathered their relatives, “put some balloons in the room, and we sang Happy Birthday” as soon as the calendar rolled over to August 23.
By 9am on his first birthday – almost 48 hours exactly from when the Reads first set foot in the hospital – Archie was dead.
“(The doctors) just got him ready and put him in my arms and they turned the machines off,” Kylie said.
“And basically straight away, everything (in his body) stopped.”
Five months after Archie’s death, his parents were presented with a report detailing the findings of a third party review into the hospital’s handling of his case.
What it revealed, Kylie said, is still difficult for the family to grapple with.
“We’ve been handed documents from parties who have investigated (Archie’s death) saying that if the hospital did follow their protocol and they picked up on all the opportunities where he was flagged as critically ill, he would still be alive,” Kylie said.
The possibility Archie had sepsis was raised when the Read’s initially presented to the emergency department – but “the pathway wasn’t activated and they didn’t assess anything further”.
What are the symptoms of sepsis?
SEPSIS is a life-threatening reaction to an infection that happens when your immune system overreacts and starts to damage your body's own tissues and organs.
Symptoms of sepsis in an adult include:
- 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
Symptoms in a child 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 ribcage), 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 having difficulty waking
They may not have all these symptoms.
If you think you or someone else has symptoms of sepsis, call 999 or go to A&E.
Source: NHS
“Once they realised it was sepsis, it was all too late,” Kylie said.
“They’ve put that document in front of me saying, ‘He should still be alive’.
“It was the eight missed opportunities that killed him.”
In memory of their son, the Read family developed Walk for Archie, an annual event held each September in Lake Macquarie that raises funds for Sepsis Australia and awareness around the condition.
“I had honestly never heard of sepsis (before Archie’s death). I had no idea what it was – neither did most of our family or our friends,” Kylie said.
“That’s why we’ve started this walk – purely to raise awareness of sepsis.
“And the amount of people who know about it now, just because of Archie, is incredible. I’ve already heard of the lives his story has saved, because people questioned, ‘Could it be sepsis?’.”
It’s a four-word question that, Kylie said, could ultimately save your child’s life.
“If you’re in the hospital room, or at the doctor’s, just ask the question,” she said.
“And it might not be sepsis, but we just want to get that one word into the back of people’s minds.
“It wasn’t questioned once when we were in there. My husband and I now know that if we did say those words, right back at the start, and the hospital had acted on it, Archie would still be here now.”
You can donate to Sepsis Australia, here.
This story was originally published on News.com.au and has been republished here with permission.