A three-year-old little girl may never walk, talk or eat on her own again after ‘common cold’ left her with lifelong brain damage.
Naomi Wall, 29, from Essex, said her three-year-old daughter, Daisy-Rae Reid, ‘loved’ food and running around before she began vomiting and struggling to stay awake in April.
The mum initially thought it was a bug, but decided to take Daisy to hospital after she began showing ‘weakness’ and ‘tremors’ on her left side.
Naomi and her partner, 36-year-old plasterer Matthew Reid, were initially sent home with antibiotics as doctors suspected tonsillitis.
After Daisy’s condition worsened and she struggled to retain consciousness, Naomi called an ambulance and her daughter was taken to hospital again, where a CT scan revealed she had encephalitis – swelling and inflammation on her brain caused by an infection.
Daisy was blue-lighted to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, where it was found she had a weakened immune system and had caught an unidentified virus, that doctors likened to a common cold, which had in turn attacked her brain.
The virus left her with a brain injury which has resulted in brain damage and dystonia – the name for uncontrolled and sometimes painful muscle movements which can be a lifelong issue.
After being discharged from hospital and spending 12 weeks at a rehabilitation centre, the family have been told there is no guarantee Daisy will ever walk, talk or eat by herself again – and her parents were told there was a ‘high chance’ she would not remember who they are.
Naomi’s sister has set up a GoFundMe page to raise awareness of Daisy’s condition and to support Naomi and Matthew, who have two other children, Ronnie-Frederick, one, and Lily-Mai, nine.
Naomi said: ‘I feel absolutely devastated because Daisy before, she loved her food, loved running around, having fun, doing ordinary toddler stuff. We’ve been told there’s no guarantee she will ever walk, talk or eat again.
‘I would give absolutely anything just to have her back to herself again… I would give anything to have her walking, and hearing her voice on old videos just breaks my heart.’
Encephalitis is an uncommon but serious condition in which the brain becomes inflamed, according to the NHS, and it can be caused by viral, bacterial or fungal infections, or a problem with the immune system – but the condition can leave some with long-term problems caused by brain damage.
She added: ‘We were also told she would never be able to breathe on her own and there was a high chance she would never know who me or her dad was.
‘They found she had tested positive for a virus, similar to a common cold, but they were not too sure what had caused it all. They said her immune system was really, really weak, which is why it had impacted her brain rather than her immune system.’
Naomi said Daisy’s dystonia started to present itself during this time, and she would ‘cry and scream’ in pain for weeks.
‘She was constantly in pain every single day – her medication list is probably longer than my whole arm,’ Naomi said.
On July 2, Daisy was transferred back to a hospital closer to the family’s home and Naomi noticed she seemed to become ‘very settled’.
‘She then began to give people high-fives and we saw her smile again for the first time in 15 weeks, so it was absolutely amazing,’ she said.
Naomi added Daisy has since been able to recognise herself and Matthew, saying she would cry when they left the room and ‘stare’ when they came back.
From there, Daisy spent 12 weeks at a rehabilitation centre in Tadworth, Surrey, starting on July 31.
She was able to consume pureed food, having previously been fed through a tube, and regain control of her head, left hand and was able to grasp objects with her right hand.
Daisy was able to return home in October, where her parents have been giving her round-the-clock care.
‘It’s been a massive struggle, we have to set alarms all throughout the night to make sure we’re up to administer medication,’ Naomi said.
‘It’s still a very, very long road ahead of us and for dystonia, there is no cure so this little girl will live with it for the rest of her life. She’s alive, she’s breathing and she’s home – that’s the main thing.’
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