Mother says her 12yo daughter, who was diagnosed with average cold even though her blood test clearly showed an infection, is ‘lucky to be alive’ after spending weeks in hospital for bacterial meningitis treatment

Mother of a 13-year-old decided to speak publicly in an effort to raise awareness and encourage other parents to trust their instinct when it comes to their children’s health months after her daughter was discharged from hospital after spending weeks there receiving bacterial meningitis treatment and had to learn to walk again.

As reported by the Independent few days ago, the 38-year-old T. Tuson and her then 12-year-old daughter Harri went to a local hospital when the schoolgirl developed several cold symptoms including runny rose and headache. When they arrived at the hospital, the mother insisted for a blood test which clearly showed an infection, but doctors, for some reason, decided to ignore the blood test and dismissed the mother and daughter from the hospital saying that the girl had common cold.

During the day, the girl’s condition worsened to a point where the mother was forced to seek emergency help and rushed her daughter to hospital where she spent six days in a medically induced coma. It was later discovered that the girl was suffering from bacterial meningitis, disease that be can be fatal if not treated on time. Tuson, a business information manager from UK, shared her story with the public.

“Harri is very lucky to be alive. At one point, she was so unstable doctors prepared me for the worst. It was horrendous as I had been in Urgent Care and A&E all day with her but we were sent home. Even though she was showing obvious signs of infection such as a high temperature – almost at 40 – yet she was shaking,” Tuson said.

According to Tuson, her daughter last June was obviously very sick and a dose of paracetamol would only mask the actual condition making the girl appear better than she was. Even though doctors said the then 12 years old was suffering from a virus, Tuson deep inside knew something else is going on. Tuson forced doctors to make blood test when Harri started looking ‘grey and unwell’.

“My gut feeling was telling me this isn’t just a cold or virus. I had to push for a blood test and it came back with markers that would indicate an infection but we were discharged. In hindsight and the benefit of all the research I have since done, I shouldn’t have left but we were there for eight hours and I was made to feel like a neurotic parent and that nothing was wrong, so I had to trust the doctor’s word and go home,” the mother recalls.

When Harri was rushed in hospital that night, a CT scan established it was a brain infection and they started antibiotics immediately. Once the results were done, she was transferred to another hospital for an MRI scan and she was diagnosed with meningitis. In addition, doctors discovered Harri had encephalitis – an inflammation of brain along with a collection of fluid.

Harri spend the next six days in a medically induced coma. Doctors informed the mother Harri will undergo surgery to have pressure released from her brain in an effort to try and protect her brain, but they also added that kind of surgery was very risky. All in all, doctors prepared Tuson for the worst saying that her daughter might not wake up after the surgery.

Harri, fortunately, woke up after the surgery, but Tuson says her daughter was emotionless. Harri was not able to form a sentence and the mother thought she might be brain dead. However, in the next couple of days, Harri was getting better and better becoming able to speak slowly. The girl was discharged from hospital after three weeks, but nurses visited their home every day in the next six weeks to infuse her with antibiotics.

The recovery period continued as the girl had to spend eight weeks in wheelchair and had to learn to walk again. Months later, she has seen huge improvement, but she still has balance issues. She is expected to fully recover. The hospital where doctors diagnosed Harri with simple cold and virus declined to comment regarding the case due to patient confidentiality. With sharing the story, the mother wants to raise awareness and encourage parents to trust their instinct when it comes to their children’s health.