Testimonies

Our daughter Lauren was 3 years old when she became ill after eating a burger at a well known fast food restaurant in December 1999. She started to develop flu-like symptoms and within a few days was very ill with sickness and diarrhoea.

We took her to our GP who told us that it was just flu and to keep her on dry foods and calpol and she would be well in a few days.

Three days later she was getting worse and one night she must have been sick every hour. Her dad is a postman and gets up very early for work. He woke me to say that he could see red liquid all over the bathroom floor but we passed this off as nothing as we were so very tired (I will never forgive myself for not doing something then). When I went to wake Lauren at about 7.30 am she could barely move.

I Phoned my GP but the receptionist would not let me speak to anyone and said she would get someone to call me back - they never did!

As I went back to Lauren and lifted her up her stools were just pure blood. I phoned my GP's surgery back and finally got to speak to a doctor who told me to bring my daughter in. (I was still worried that I could be wasting their time ... but I KNEW something was wrong).

When I saw my GP she would not believe me and said that Lauren just had bad flu and to take her home to rest. I refused to leave the surgery without getting a letter to go to my local hospital (I wish now that I had just taken Lauren straight to A&E).

Lauren was deteriorating right in front of me. My parents took us to the hospital where we had to wait ages to see a doctor. We were left in a public waiting room until Lauren soiled herself, and a nurse then let us use a private room.

After waiting about an hour a doctor finally saw us, along with a student doctor who was asking all the questions. When we told him how much Lauren had been sick through the night both the doctor and student doctor told us that this would be quite impossible!? We were told she most likely had gastroenteritis, but they admitted her for tests.

I then phoned my husband and told him to come to the hospital quickly. I will never forget the look on his face when he walked into the room to find doctors trying to get a drip in her hand. They couldn't find a vein. She was losing consciousness fast and her hand looked like a pin cushion.

Lauren remained in that hospital for 3 days before they said she had E.Coli (even although we were initially told that it definitely wasn't).

The next morning was terrible. the consultant was doing his rounds with loads of students and when they came to Lauren they all crowded around her like a freak show. (I know that doctors have to learn but she was so scared - and I was too!) They spoke loads of medical jargon and ignored me and my husband. Another doctor came back later and explained that E.coli was so rare that the students may never see a case ever again!?

Later that day Lauren was transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital as she was getting worse. GOSH were better equipped to deal with it. I will never forget the feeling of going into that hospital and the relief I felt. Though there were more tests, blood transfusions etc... I knew there was no better place for her to be.

Later the next day Lauren's kidneys failed and she was rushed for surgery. She was on full time dialysis for 13 days and then she had to have another operation to insert a line to open her stomach (which had closed). She started to get better and on Christmas day 1999 she was discharged from hospital. I can honestly say it was the best Christmas of our lives.

Seven years later she is doing really well though she will never be 100%. One of her kidneys has suffered damage and she has a few scars. But she is alive and we celebrate Christmas with a bang each year.