Toddler, 3, left fighting for life after ‘going off his food’ – as killer cocktail of common viruses attacked his heart

A THREE-year-old boy was left fighting for his life after a rare combination of common bugs attacked his heart.

Freddie Julian had come down with what his parents thought was a virus – but within days he was placed on life support and given emergency heart surgery.

Not known, clear with picture deskThree-year-old Freddie needed emergency heart surgery at Bristol Children’s Hospital in June[/caption]

Not known, clear with picture deskMedics were forced to put Freddie on life support after his heart began to fill with blood and fail to function properly.[/caption]

“It was the worst experience of our lives,” Freddie’s mum, Vickie, from Powys, Wales said.

“The thought of losing your child is horrific,”

The lawyer first noticed that her youngster was unwell on June 16, when he developed a fever and she felt swollen glands at the back of his head.

That night she rushed to him to the out-of-hours doctors, who told her it was a virus.

Over the next few days, Freddie just got sicker as he started falling asleep all over the house and vomiting.

Concerned, Vickie took her son to see another GP on June 19, who reassured her that Freddie “only had a virus”.

However, the little boy continued to grow more unwell.

“By this point, he had stopped eating, his arms and legs were freezing, his lips were blue, and his eyes kept rolling to the back of his head,” Vickie told The Sun.

At a loss for what to do, Vickie and her husband Steven rushed their son to Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil on June 20, where a cardiac paediatrician scanned his heart.

Doctors soon discovered he had an enlarged liver and fluid around his heart.

Within a few hours, medics were forced to put Freddie on life support after his heart began to fill with blood and fail to function properly.

“I had to kiss him goodbye, it was so scary”, Vickie recalls.

Freddie was then blue-lighted to Bristol Hospital – the nearest hospital to have an ECMO machine, the medical equipment needed to keep Freddie alive

“We were so lucky we only had to go to Bristol, any further and Freddie wouldn’t have made it,” the mum added.

After arriving at Bristol, little Freddie had a temporary pacing wire inserted into his extremely poor heart to ensure it continued beating.

Further tests at Bristol revealed Freddie had slapped cheek syndrome, pneumonia, enterovirus and rhinovirus – which often cause the common cold.

“It was the slapped cheek that was making him the most unwell. because it was affecting his heart,” Vickie explained.

Not known, clear with picture deskFreddie was put on a kidney filter and the new ECMO machine – similar to the heart-lung bypass machine used for open heart surgery[/caption]

Not known, clear with picture deskFreddie is lucky to have survived, says his mum[/caption]

Not known, clear with picture deskWhen he first came off life support Freddie lost his speech, was extremely weak and could no longer walk, his mum says[/caption]

Finally, the only option was to put Freddie on a kidney filter and the new ECMO machine – similar to the heart-lung bypass machine used for open heart surgery.

The machine delivers oxygen to the blood by working as an artificial lung membrane, continuously pumping this blood into and around the body.

Vickie, who had never heard of an ECMO machine said the whole ordeal was “terrifying”.

“The medical teams explained all the risks that came with it, but also said it was his last chance,” she said.

After five days of ECMO support, doctors believed Freddie’s heart had rested enough, so they gradually reintroduced blood to it.

Freddie’s blood vessels were reconstructed and Freddie was successfully taken off ECMO.

A few weeks later he was taken off life support and transferred to HDU in Bristol Children’s Hospital.

Vickie said her son was “so unlucky to fall so poorly with the viruses attacking his heart” and that, if it was not for the ECMO machine, “he definitely wouldn’t be here”.

RELEARNING HOW TO WALK

Freddie was moved to a hospital in Cardiff one month later where he is closer to his family, including his five-year-old sister Millie.

He has begun intensive neurological and occupational rehabilitation for speech, language, physio, play and music therapy.

“When he first came off life support Freddie had lost his speech, was extremely weak and could no longer walk,” Vickie said.

“But with the help of therapy teams in Bristol and Cardiff he is already beginning to babble and can sit up independently again,” she added.

“Freddie is a force of nature, his determination is contagious, just like his smile,” she added.

Vickie said she wanted her family’s experience to remind other families to “trust their instructs” when it comes to their children’s health.

“You know your child best, if you think something is wrong make sure you believe in that.”

She also urged others to take common viruses more seriously.

“Never in a million years did I think our healthy Freddie would be on death’s door.”

Not known, clear with picture deskThe ECMO machine works by removing blood from the patient and re-oxygenising it before pumping it back into the body[/caption]

Not known, clear with picture desk‘Freddie is a force of nature, his determination is contagious, just like his smile,’ says Vickie[/caption]