Testimonies

When I was 5 my sister and I both started with bad sickness and diarrhoea. After a few days my mum took us to our local GP - he said it was a tummy bug. It didn't stop there - the sickness and diarrhoea got worse and we were losing blood. The stomach pains were very bad and we were both going down hill fast. My mum took stool samples but we were just turned away. After almost a week of these symptoms my parents were becoming very worried and concerned that this was not just a bug!

That night they rang the GP. It was a locum that came. He immediately took one look at Sarah and said that we should take her down to the Children's Hospital immediately and that he would ring to ensure that they would be waiting for us.

I had to stay home that night with grandparents, to see how my illness progressed. I went down to hospital in the car the next morning. Sarah and I were both admitted to an isolation ward. We were barrier nursed. Over the next two days our conditions continued to deteriorate and became very serious. The doctors and nurses constantly tested our blood, urine and blood pressures. The samples were sent off to the public health labs where a world expert on E.coli, Peter Chapman, knew and understood the urgency of the hospital receiving the results in order to start treatment.

Had it not been for Mr Chapman in the labs and a renal consultant at the hospital, I would not be writing this story today.

The test results proved to be E.coli O157. Both Sarah and I, along with another boy aged 7, were taken into theatre to have tubes attached to our kidneys and then on to dialysis machines because of the poisonous toxins E.coli produces. This surgery is very dangerous and has often proved fatal.

For the next six weeks we were all nursed on ITU, returning back to theatre for more surgery. The dialysis machines were very painful. We had several blood transfusions, a nasal tube and drip feeds.

Although some medics know how to treat E.coli there is no known cure. It very much depends on medical expertise and the individual patient as to how they will respond to treatment.

During the last two weeks of our stay in hospital we were slowly withdrawn from dialysis machines until our kidneys were able to function on their own. Sarah and I now have scaring on both kidneys. No one knows the long term damage of HUS. Sarah produces too much protein and already has to have medication for the rest of her life.

As a result of her suffering, our family along with others decided to set up a nationwide support group called HUSH (Haemolytic Uraemic Syndrome Help).