THE DAD of a baby fighting the “worst case of meningitis doctors have seen for decades” has slammed the NHS for its decision to stop vaccinating 12-week-olds.
Paul Gott, whose ten-month-old daughter Kia faces losing all four limbs, said the MenC vaccine policy change “makes me feel sick” and called for the rules to be reversed.
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Little Kia has already had one arm amputated since she was struck down with a rare strain of the disease five weeks ago.
The youngster’s parents, Paul and Vikki, called 999 after going to check on her in the middle of the night and realising something was wrong.
Dad Paul, 35, put the light on saw her face, neck and chest was covered in a terrible rash – a known symptom of meningococcal septicemia.
Paramedics were rushed round but Kia’s veins had collapsed so they had to drill into her tiny shin to give her emergency drugs.
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Kia also suffered a mini cardiac arrest on her way to Bradford Royal Infirmary, West Yorks, where her parents were given the devastating news their daughter had contracted meningitis C septicaemia.
Paul described how he watched his little girl change from a vibrant youngster to deteriorating rapidly within hours.
Speaking to ITV News, the 35-year-old said: “Life was just life, normal life. Getting up going to work, the kids at home, getting ready for Christmas, Halloween.
“Kia had just started walking, she had just started saying ‘ma-ma-ma’, just a normal baby coming of age, really. And then it’s just all been taken away from me in a matter of hours.”
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Clik here to view.
Clik here to view.
He continued: “She was just not herself. Normally she was full of beans, trying to do everything. Screaming, shouting, just a normal energetic baby.
“And she went from that to just nothing. She just lied there. She had a rash, she had a temperature.”
Doctors have said it is the worst case they have seen for 25 years warning that Kia is expected lose her sight, hearing and even suffer 90 per cent brain damage.
The cruel disease has been almost eradicated in babies under one-year-old and the NHS stopped giving the MenC vaccine to 12-week-old babies in July 2016.
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Vaccinations for MenB, which protects against meningococcal group B bacteria – responsible for more than 90% of infections in young children, are still given to babies at eight weeks, 16 weeks and 12-months.
But Paul has criticised the NHS for stopping the MenC vaccine, asking why it had to take “my little girl to lose all four limbs” for something to be done.
The self-employed window fitter added: “It makes me feel sick that they can just stop something that could save so many lives.”
Paul and his wife Vikki are still clinging to hope their baby daughter can hear and see them and Kayden, eight, and sister Elsie, who is four.
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Paul’s aunt Donna Gott said: “Paul and Vikki are traumatised.
“They know she is in a bad way but they can’t grasp she can’t hear or see them.
“They believe she is responding to them and their voices and when Elsie sings her nursery rhymes.
“She is yawning, moving her head and her arm – the hospital has said it’s the worst case of Meningitis C septicaemia they have seen there in 25 years.
What is meningitis, how do you get it, what are the symptoms and is there a vaccine?
“Because she is on so many drugs at the moment it’s hard to do the tests they need to find out for sure but they will keep monitoring her.
“Vikki has not left the hospital – she is feeling an immense sense of guilt and is scared if she leaves the hospital something bad will happen.
“It’s heartbreaking – Paul is a self-employed window-fitter and is still having to work two days a week because bills still need paying.
“Kayden and Elsie are staying over at the hospital house with their mum at weekends.
“They are struggling too.”
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The day before Kia was rushed into intensive care she had a 38.5C temperature and was lethargic with spots on her chest.
Vikki took her to a GP, but consultants have said the meningitis would not have been detectable at this time.
When Paul got home from work, Kia was not excited to see him, which was unusual, so the anxious parents stayed up with her until midnight before going to bed.
At 2am, the dad checked on baby Kia and found her face, neck and chest were covered in the rash.
The youngster has been removed from a ventilator and is breathing independently, with an eye specialist giving some hope her eyes may be healthy – but Donna said the family have “a long hard road ahead of them”.
Donna said: “Paul and Vikki have accepted that it’s life-changing but as long as she can hear and see they will get by.”
Kia’s self-employed dad has had to return to work to support the family and her siblings are staying with their mum at the hospital house at weekends.
More than £8,000 has been raised to support Kia’s family through a Go Fund Me page.
The Meningitis C vaccine is offered to children at one-year of age – it’s success means that there are almost no cases of this strain recorded in the UK.
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