A 22-year-old mother from Britain has described the difficult time she had with her 5-year-old daughter who became infected with strep A, urging parents to take their children to hospital if they themselves are worried about being ill as they may be "battling" the deadly disease.
Young mother, Tanya Dawson, was shocked to see her daughter, Lyra, battling the serious disease. The youngster began showing symptoms on Saturday and the 22-year-old mother believed it was a common cold.
In Lyra's case her condition worsened until she found it difficult to eat or drink anything and shortly afterwards she could not even swallow her saliva and was unable to lift her head from her pillow. So she was rushed to hospital by her mother.
"At first I thought something was wrong but I didn't know anything about this illness until Sunday night," said Tanya, from the Scunthorpe area. "I thought she was going to die."
Doctors initially thought Lyra had contracted tonsillitis and gave her some medication to treat it. However, this did not help as the five-year-old continued to struggle to meet some basic needs, such as eating.
"I felt like such a bad parent because I couldn't do anything," the 22-year-old mother continued. "She looked very weak as she couldn't eat or drink anything or swallow her saliva. I didn't even realize that a child at that age could have something like that," she added, stressing: "I was on my phone all night, listening to her breathing."
5-year-old Lyra received a few more medications to treat the illness and began to slowly recover. However, her mother feels not everyone takes strep throat infection seriously.
"I dread to think what could have happened if I hadn't taken her to the hospital so quickly," Tanya said, appealing to parents: "If you see a high temperature or even a nappy rash, take your children for a check."
Note that at least nine children across the UK have been infected and died from Strep A. The most recent victim was Stella-Lilly McCorkindale from Belfast.
Source: Proto Thema
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