Michelle Murrell said her ‘miracle boy’ Blake died from a mystery case of bacterial meningitis

A family has shared their grief after mistaking the symptoms of their one-year-old ‘prodigy boy’ for teething problems or a daycare – when he suffered a case of bacterial meningitis.

Sydney’s mother, Michelle Murrell, 40, noted that her one-year-old son Blake seemed a little under the weather when she picked him up from daycare on July 28.

She assumed he’d just picked up another run-of-the-mill virus, with symptoms like fever and some vomiting. Blake even seemed to bounce back.

However, after 10 days, Blake deteriorated and was rushed to the emergency department of Campbeltown Hospital in the southwest of the city on August 7.

His condition worsened – the boy suffered from brain swelling – and doctors quickly approved a transfer to Sydney Children’s Hospital.

He was put into an artificial coma the next day to try and give his body a better chance to heal, but unfortunately he never woke up.

The heartbroken family was told Blake’s brain swelling was too severe to recover, and the one-year-old succumbed to the disease on August 16.

Michelle spoke to Daily Mail Australia about what happened to Blake, whom she called a “miracle” as he was conceived after multiple miscarriages and failed IVF rounds.

Ms Murrell said that when Blake first became ill, he also had teething problems, which made her think his symptoms were a combination of things.

It never occurred to her that what her son had was bacterial meningitis, she added.

“I first noticed Blake was sick when he developed a fever, but we weren’t worried because he was constantly bringing bugs home from daycare,” she told the Daily Mail Australia.

“He started out with a bit of a fever, but he was also teething at the time and about three or four teeth were coming through at a time.

“So we kept an eye on that and he had some vomiting and fever and things like that, but we weren’t too concerned.”

Ms Murrell said Blake started to look and feel better over the next 10 days before going downhill again.

“He’d be all right and then suddenly be very, very lethargic. It went up and down all week, so I never felt the need to take him to the hospital or anything,” she said.

“I’m a nurse so I just kept him hydrated and kept the fever under control until one night I noticed he was holding his head weird and that caught my attention.

“He just looked really stiff, so I decided to take him to the hospital.”

Ms Murrell said doctors at Campbelltown Hospital attempted to pump his fluids on Aug. 7.

“He had a fever at the time and they admitted him right away because he was quite dehydrated, even though we kept his fluids up,” she said.

“Then he started having seizures, it was like jerking in his arm and his leg.

“Then they took him for a blood test and when they got the results they could see he had a pretty serious infection.

“They covered him with four different antibiotics and I think meningitis was in the back of their minds, but they never really gave a clear diagnosis of it at the time.”

The next day, Blake was transferred to Sydney Children’s Hospital and admitted to their ICU ward.

“They gave him a breathing tube, anaesthetized him and put him under, not because he was having trouble breathing, but because of the swelling in his brain,” Ms Murrell said.

That day was the last time Blake was awake.

Ms Murrell said doctors officially diagnosed him with bacterial meningitis days later and told her there was nothing they could do.

“They said the antibiotics he had taken had fought the infection because they could see that, but because of the swelling in his brain it was too much trauma and they told me there’s nothing we can do,” Ms Murrell said.

“We were told that on Friday, so we had our other son and family come in and say what to say.

“From that point on, it was just a matter of when we were ready to make the decision to end his support.

“We knew we would never be ready, but we didn’t want to drag it out, so after we all said what we needed, we let him pass.”

Blake died on August 16, and while Michelle said the family was staying strong, her other son, seven-year-old Lachlan, took comfort in Blake’s toys to get through the nights.

“Lachlan does well at school during the day, but he just struggles at night,” Mrs. Murrell said.

“For the past few weeks, he’s been coming in at night and cuddling his brothers’ toys, some of Blake’s stuffed animals.”

Ms Murrell said she had had five miscarriages before she managed to conceive through IVF from what she and her husband called their “wonder boy.”

“He was our little miracle, he was an IVF baby and we tried so many times,” she said.

“We call him our little miracle boy because we didn’t know if it would happen, it’s just not fair. It’s just really not fair.

“I had several miscarriages before him. Lachlan was natural, but then I had several miscarriages and tried IVF five times before we finally got Blake.”

Blake’s ashes have been returned to the family, which Ms Murrell said gave the family some peace of mind.

“It’s good to have Blake back with us,” she said.

‘His ashes are just in our bedroom in a heart box, it’s like a memory box, a nice box with his things.

Ms Murrell said that the donations from GoFundMe also helped her and the family financially through the tumultuous time.

“I haven’t been able to go back to work yet and we wouldn’t have made it financially without the outpouring of support and donations and we are truly grateful for the care and support,” she said.

“I don’t know what we would have done if we hadn’t, we’re just trying to move forward as best we can.

“I know I need to get back to work financially, but I just didn’t feel up to it yet.”