On the 4^th December, five year old Katie developed chickenpox, as you
all might know, common childhood infection. Just two days later, she started to
get really not well, with high temperature and severe pain in her right
shoulder. Overnight, Katie was getting progressively worse, with swelling of
her arm and even more pain. After GP’s home visit, she has been admitted to
Wishaw General Hospital, where doctors were doing their best to figure out what
might be causing the swelling, pain and high temperature.

Staff at WGH
struggled to put Katie on the drip as her veins started collapsing, she was
going into renal failure and she started to develop cardiac problems and her
temperature was as high as 40.9C. Shortly after Katie started hallucinating, family were told that special unit from Yorkhill Hospital were on their way to admit Katie to intensive care in Glasgow hospital. Due to the fact that Katie’s
condition was so serious, in order to transport and treat her, they had to put
her into medically induced coma. Katie was a mystery; doctors could not come up with a diagnosis that would match her symptoms.

While in intensive care, things were happening very quickly and time was running out.
Katie now had septicaemia (blood poisoning) and her body was going into toxic
shock. That’s when doctors made a diagnosis – Necrotising Fasciitis (also known as flesh eating bacteria), an extremely rare condition that affects 0.4
cases per 100,000 in adults and 0.08 cases per 100,000 in children. Doctor’s have never known for it to be developed through chickenpox either, which made it an especially rare case.

Staff at Yorkihll acted quickly and they have prepared family that the next 24 hours will be absolutely vital and outcome was unknown. Katie was taken into surgery and doctors advised that they will need to remove infected skin from her arm as disease was spreading fast, as they found out in the operating theatre. Updates were coming in on a regular basis to keep family informed: more skin damage than we expected, amputation might be necessary, loss of function in arm, and that’s if she survives...

Everyone has feared the worst, that they might lose their little girl, who was just about to turn 6 later on that month.

What saved Katie’s life are the equipment, knowledge and extreme care of all staff at Yorkhill Hospital. The outcome is still breath-taking, even for the medical
staff – they say that Katie is a miracle and can’t believe how well she is
doing ... Not only Katie is alive and now home, but the possible amputation
that might have happened never took place, skin grafts have taken very well and
body is responding extremely well to treatments. For the next year and a half,
Katie will need to use specially design bandage to minimise scarring, she also
has to use wheelchair from time to time as skin from her thigh had to be taken
to complete skin grafts.

Katie has shown amazing courage and strength fighting this horrible infection and she continues to make improvement every single day. She is adjusting very well to her situation and she gets to enjoy every minute surrounded by her loving
family and friends.

Katie’s family would like to thank Yorkhill Hospital, Wishaw General Hospital and Ronald McDonald House Charity for being by their side in this difficult time. They
have supported both Katie and her family by ensuring only the best care was
provided, trying to make things as ‘normal’ as possible, and also to allow them
to reside in the Ronald McDonald House during Katie’s time in hospital.

Ronald McDonald House is a building located within walking distance from the hospital. It enables parents of very sick children to stay in one of the apartments free of charge, while the little one is undergoing treatment. Anyone who is a parent or has a child in the family can appreciate how important it is to be with the child in such an extreme circumstances and how it can be beneficial to their
recovery.

***A huge, warm thank you is also passed to all their family and friends who have made this extremely hard time a little bit more bearable through good wishes, words of comfort, visits and massive support ***

Even though Yorkhill is a very modern hospital, it even has a cinema so kids can watch a movie and forget about the horrible reality they might be facing, there is
still never ending need for new equipment and adaptations. Also the McDonald
house is in need of funding to enable the project to run smoothly.

So please, sponsor me and help me make a difference! You don't have to donate huge amount of money, whatever you can will be very much appreciated!

I will be doing fundraising throughout the year, they might not be huge challenges, but I will do what I can to help Yorkhill, Ronald McDonald House and Katie’s family.

Thank you

Anna