Mum shares ‘immense guilt’ after ‘infecting newborn son with whooping cough’ that left him brain damaged
A MUM has admitted to feeling ‘immense guilt’ every day after passing whooping cough onto her newborn son, which left him brain damaged.
Mel Jewell claims she was never offered the whooping cough vaccine when she was pregnant with her son Ewan.
The tot caught whooping cough from her when he was just two weeks old and lives with brain damage.
Now Mel is urging pregnant women to get vaccinated.
Whooping cough is a bacterial infection of the lungs and breathing tubes that can spread very easily and cause serious problems, especially in babies too young to receive the vaccine themselves.
The UK is currently seeing a surge in cases of whooping cough – dubbed the ‘100-day cough’.
Nearly 3,000 cases have been confirmed in the first three months of this year – compared to 858 seen in the whole of 2023 – and five babies have died.
Experts have warned that more deaths may be reported by mid-May, due to a lag between deaths and official tallies being published.
The brave parents of a 15-day-old girl who passed away of whooping cough on May 3 have spoken out about their daughter’s final moments and urged other parents to be aware of signs of the illness.
Mum-of-four Mel passed sadly passed on whooping cough to her son Ewan in 2002.
The 48-year-old, who lives in Eastleigh, Hampshire, said her now 21-year-old son cannot live independently, has the reading age of a five-year-old and is unable to perform simple tasks like using a microwave.
The whooping cough vaccination is recommended for all pregnant people, ideally between 16 and 32 weeks.
However, Mel says she was not offered a vaccination against the disease and subsequently caught whooping cough while eight months pregnant.
Doctors believe Ewan contracted the disease shortly after he was born, resulting in him being placed on life support after his brain was starved of oxygen.
Despite Mel making funeral arrangements, Ewan made a miraculous recovery but is still suffering the effects of the disease today.
Mel is now determined to raise awareness of the vaccine, as she says she would have got it at the time had she been offered it.
AN ‘AWFUL’ ORDEAL
Mel, a business-owner, said: “It felt awful. When you’ve carried a baby for nine months and you’re suddenly told you’re likely to lose your child.
“I was thinking ‘how am I going to tell my two other children that their little baby brother was going to die?’
“I was planning his funeral, in my head, like what he was going to wear, which is a bit crazy.
“I wonder if I could have lived knowing my child had died because of me. It was like a dream really, I kept expecting to wake up.”
The infection caused Ewan to stop breathing ‘several times’ for up to 15 minutes, starving his brain of oxygen and forcing doctors to place him on a life support machine at Southampton General Hospital.
I cried, when I heard the news that five babies had died this year from it. To think there are parents going through what we went through, it’s unnecessary. I don’t think people are aware of how badly it can affect you.
Mel Jewell
A few days after being placed on life support, Ewan was then air-lifted to Leicester, where he received a treatment that involves a machine effectively replacing your heart and lungs by sending oxygen to depleted tissue.
Mel said: “They gave him loads and loads of drugs, just to keep him alive.
“When we got to Leicester, they said to us that ‘he will have some form of brain damage because of the amount of times he’d stopped breathing and all the drugs he was given to keep him alive’.
“They said he could be severely brain damaged and, in a wheelchair, unable to speak.”
The situation then went from bad to worse as Mel recounts how she, and the rest of Ewan’s family, were told to ‘say goodbye to him’ and prepare funeral arrangements.
‘JUST GET VACCINATED’
Ewan eventually recovered enough to return home at three months old thanks to his birth weight of 9lbs11oz.
The ordeal caused him to drop nearly a pound of weight that doctors said a smaller baby couldn’t have afforded to lose.
His mum then ensured he had all the regular jabs and boosters that she was offered.
Now, Mel urges other parents to get their vaccinations decades on since nearly losing her own son.
I feel so, so guilty. Every time Ewan annoys me, or is upset, I think ‘I’ve done this to my child; he’s brain damaged because of me’.
Mel Jewel
Mel said: “I cried, when I heard the news that five babies had died this year from it.
“To think there are parents going through what we went through, it’s unnecessary. I don’t think people are aware of how badly it can affect you.
“Yesterday, I got a post from a friend that said, ‘if you’ve got whooping cough, have an onion drink and that will get rid of it’, I couldn’t believe that was supposed to be a remedy.
“Just get vaccinated. The guilt: I feel so, so guilty. Every time Ewan annoys me, or is upset, I think ‘I’ve done this to my child; he’s brain damaged because of me’.
“I wouldn’t want any other mother to go through this.”
WHOOPING COUGH & PREGNANCY
Whooping cough is a serious disease that can lead to pneumonia and permanent brain damage.
Young babies are particularly at risk of serious disease and they remain vulnerable until they can be vaccinated against whooping cough from two months of age.
The government advises that expectant mothers protect their unborn baby by having the whooping cough vaccination whilst pregnant, and describes the jab as ‘very effective’ in protecting newborns against the disease.
It states that pregnant women may be offered the whooping cough vaccine after their mid-pregnancy scan and should ask their midwife or GP if they have not been offered the jab.
The whooping cough vaccine is also offered to children too and is routinely given as part of the:
- 6-in-1 vaccine – for babies at 8, 12 and 16 weeks
- 4-in-1 pre-school booster – for children aged 3 years 4 months
The recent surge in cases has in part been blamed on waning vaccine uptake.
Just 61 per cent of pregnant women in England were vaccinated in 2023, down from 71 per cent in 2020.
Meanwhile, the number of two-year-olds who completed their six-in-one vaccinations as of September 2023 was 92.9 per cent, compared with 96.3 per cent in March 2014.
But the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) also noted that the bug peaks every three to five years.
With the last spike in the UK occurring in 2016, UKHSA said a peak year in cases is “overdue”.
Nationwide Covid-19 lockdowns also played their role, as it meant that people have less immunity to the illness.
In response to spiralling cases across the country, a number of GP surgeries have asked their patients to come to appointments wearing masks, in an eerie reminder of Covid-19 safety measures.
Meanwhile, a mum revealed that she was left fearing for her teenage daughter’s life after she contracted whooping cough.
Fourteen-year-old Ellie was wracked by coughs until she became breathless and her lips turned blue.
The life-saving vaccines you need at every age
EIGHT WEEKS
- 6-in-1 vaccine
- Rotavirus vaccine
- MenB vaccine
12 WEEKS
- 6-in-1 vaccine (2nd dose)
- Pneumococcal vaccine
- Rotavirus vaccine (2nd dose)
16 WEEKS
- 6-in-1 vaccine (3rd dose)
- MenB vaccine (2nd dose)
ONE YEAR
- Hib/MenC vaccine (1st dose)
- MMR vaccine (1st dose)
- Pneumococcal vaccine (2nd dose)
- MenB vaccine (3rd dose)
TWO TO 15 YEARS
- Children’s flu vaccine (every year until children finish Year 11 of secondary school)
THREE YEARS AND FOUR MONTHS
- MMR vaccine (2nd dose)
- 4-in-1 pre-school booster vaccine
12 TO 13 YEARS
- HPV vaccine
14 YEARS
- 3-in-1 teenage booster vaccine
- MenACWY vaccine
65 YEARS
- Flu vaccine (given every year after turning 65)
- Pneumococcal vaccine
- Shingles vaccine (if you turned 65 on or after 1 September 2023)
70 to 79 YEARS
- Shingles vaccine
Source: The NHS