Baby Leo’s tragic 24 hours

PICTURE of health . . . Leo five weeks before his death

Mum’s warning after meningitis horror

AT 7pm on Friday, five-month-old Leo Caiden Radcliffe started to grizzle and developed a temperature . . . within 24 hours, he was dead.

Despite frantic efforts from a team of doctors and nurses, the tiny tot had succumbed to every parent’s nightmare — meningitis.

Still reeling from the speed the cruel disease took away her precious baby, Leo’s devastated mother Katie Corry (18) spoke out in a bid to prevent other parents facing the same ordeal.

It was the second time she had encountered meningitis — her daughter, Leah-Chanel, was struck down by the disease just over two years ago.

The little girl recovered after spending 10 days in intensive care. Tragically, her baby brother wasn’t so lucky.

Katie nursed Leo at her Chadderton home for several hours, believing he may be suffering from too much sun. He started whinging at 7pm and wouldn’t take his bottle,” she explained. “By 9pm he had a bit of a temperature.

“He wouldn’t settle, so I gave him baby Nurofen. When I held him, he lay still, which was unusual because he was always fidgety.”

As Leo’s condition worsened, Katie rang NHS Direct in the early hours of Saturday. When she relayed his symptoms, they suggested he had an upset stomach.

“I asked if it could be meningitis because Leah had had it, and should I call an ambulance, but when I said he hadn’t got a rash and his limbs were warm, they said it sounded like a tummy bug,” added Katie.

“They said ambulances were for emergencies. My partner Kaine and I don’t have our own transport and we didn’t have enough money in the house for a taxi.

“They said a doctor would ring back and the phone did ring but I couldn’t get there in time because I was looking after Leo. Looking back, I really wish we had just called for an ambulance. But he was nothing like Leah when she had meningitis. I kept checking him over, but there was no sign of a rash.”

Then Leo suddenly took a turn for the worse. Katie said: “I picked him up and he was unbelievably hot. He started to shake in his cheeks, and I jumped up to turn the light on and saw two marks on his head.

“I knew straight away it was meningitis. Patches of rash just started coming up all over him, I couldn’t believe how quickly they formed. I screamed for Kaine to get up and call an ambulance.

“I could see from the paramedics’ faces it was serious. They worked for 20 minutes to stabilise Leo in the ambulance before taking him to hospital. There were 12 doctors waiting for us, all trying to save him. They told us all the time what they were doing, they were absolutely amazing.”

Manchester Children’s Hospital sent a team of experts out to work with doctors in Oldham, then escorted the baby to Manchester in a special life-support ambulance.

“When they eventually let me see him, he had swollen to three times his normal size. There were tubes coming out of him, his face was a mess and his legs were one big rash,” said Katie.

Leo’s organs collapsed as he struggled to survive. Doctors said the only option left was to put him on dialysis, but even then he would be lucky to survive until the morning.

“We didn’t want that, he had suffered enough. The doctors said he had massive brain damage and would lose his arms and legs, so Kaine and I were ready to turn the life-support machine off,” said Katie.

“We were in bits, we really didn’t want to make the decision. But before we could do, Leo died.”

It was 4pm on Saturday, less than 24 hours after Leo fell ill.

Katie made a plea to other parents: “If you think there’s a problem with your child, don’t risk waiting and ringing NHS Direct.

“Just get an ambulance and go to hospital. If it’s a wasted journey it doesn’t matter, you have to take them, no matter what.”

A spokeswoman from NHS Direct said Katie initially spoke to a health adviser then a nurse adviser, who felt Leo needed further advice from a GP. The details were transferred to Go-To-Doc, Oldham’s out-of-hours service for urgent attention.

Dr Brian Lewis, chairman of Go-To-Doc, said: “We are really sorry to hear what has happened. The matter will be fully investigated to see if it could have been handled in a different way.”

Leo’s funeral service takes place on Tuesday at St Mark’s Church, Milne Street, Chadderton, at 10.30am, followed by committal at Oldham Crematorium, Hollinwood.

The family have requested family flowers only. Donations in baby Leo’s memory to the Meningitis Research Foundation.


Symptoms of meningitis

People with meningitis may first become ill with flu-like symptoms which develop quickly and may include one or a combination of the following: severe headache, joint or muscle pain, dislike of bright light, drowsiness and a bruise-like rash under the skin which does not disappear when a glass is pressed against it.