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Fun-filled afternoon became a
nightmare
 After two days the seizures subsided and he was put into a coma for 36 hours to rest his brain.
That was the turning point. Once he was awakened from the coma Adam was taken off the ventilator and transferred to the
high dependency unit for four days before being admitted to a neurology ward. He was finally released from hospital on Tuesday after five agonising weeks.
Physio
But he will still need visits from a physio and occupational therapists so he can relearn how to crawl and walk. The disease causes brain inflammation that leads to a temporary loss of movement.
“It’s all still to hit us,” said Lorraine. “Adam had been playing on the trampoline at two o’clock and by four he was vomiting and complaining of headaches. I thought it was a virus, which he has been prone to.
“Eighteen months ago he spent three days in the Sick Kids because he’d vomited so much he’d become dehydrated, but that was unrelated.
“This time, because he was feeling poorly he spent the night with us and at seven in the morning I tried to wake him. But he was unresponsive and had mottled skin.
“We called 999 and he was blue-lighted into the Sick Kids.”
It still isn’t clear how Adam contracted the brain infection. But, once told it was the exceedingly uncommon haemophilus influenzae D strain, family and friends began searching the web for details.
“There’s not a lot of information for the layman,” Lorraine explained. “Friends found out about a case of a boy in Hiroshima and a man in Iowa but those were the only two.
Surprise
“The D strain Adam got isn’t the same as the B strain we’re warned about. You think that, as a parent, you know the signs for meningitis but it takes you by surprise.
“There’s a lot of emphasis on a stiff neck and reacting badly to light but those symptoms aren’t always common in very young children. Adam didn’t really show any signs of those.
“You’re also told to look for a rash but he had mottled skin instead. Sometimes children are said to have ‘tartan skin’, like when they come in from the cold and the veins stand out. It was more that kind of effect.”
The good news is that Adam is making exceptional progress. His cheerful personality is back and, though he’ll be on anti-seizure medication for a while, the physio has helped get him mobile again.
Lorraine and Frank are elated, which is why they’re delighted to raise awareness about this unusual form of meningitis — and The Sunday Post Sick Children’s Appeal.
The couple appreciate their ordeal would have been so much tougher had it not been for PJ’s Loft — the parents’ accommodation unit at the Edinburgh hospital.
They were given the use of one of the seven bedrooms located immediately above intensive care which allowed them to always be close to Adam.
Vigil
As well as PJ’s, there’s also a family flat and a second unit capable of housing 14 parents. However, it costs Ł30,000 a year to have housekeepers maintain the premises and provide support for parents and that’s why we need YOUR generous help this week.
Lorraine says, “For the first two weeks Frank and I had a double room and we’d keep a bedside vigil 24 hours a day, with at least one of us staying with Adam.
“After a fortnight Frank would leave at night and I moved into a single room. I’d stay with Adam until about 11 at night and be back at his bedside at 6 am.
“It’s only when you have to use the facilities you realise how important they are.”
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Frank and Lorraine with Adam (left) and brother Frankie.
