The mother of a baby boy who tragically died of sepsis on his first birthday is urging parents to remember four simple words if their child is ever ill in hospital.
Kylie Read, 36, a mother of two from New South Wales, wishes she had asked doctors ‘could it be sepsis?’ during a 12-hour hospital stay with her son Archie in 2022.
Archie died after a group A streptococcal infection progressed to sepsis, causing his organs to fail, just hours after his first birthday on August 23.
Mrs Read had rushed him to the emergency room after noticing he had not urinated for hours and was refusing to be bottle-fed or fed.
While Archie was being examined at the triage desk, Mrs Read noticed a mild rash on his back. She informed the nurses, who she said were ‘not overly concerned’.
They waited six hours in the emergency room before Archie was given a bed and Hydralyte was given through a syringe, hoping it would make him urinate.
When the nurses inserted a cannula into the little boy’s arm, they praised his calm demeanor, not realizing that his lethargy was a clear sign that his organs were failing.
“That’s why he’s not urinating, the heart is not pumping blood to places in the body where it’s not needed,” Ms Read told Daily Mail Australia.
Kylie Read, 36, a mother of two from New South Wales, wishes she had asked doctors ‘could it be sepsis?’ during a 12-hour hospital stay with her son Archie in August 2022
Mrs Read, 36, and her husband Gavin, 38, are pictured with Archie in hospital
“His feet and hands started to turn blue.”
At 8:30pm, concerns were passed on to the paediatrician for an emergency check-up after Archie became ‘completely limp’ and his rash worsened.
Two hours later, the doctor examined Archie and decided to transfer him to intensive care. There, he was put under anesthesia so that his body could rest.
Mrs Read said she and her husband Gavin, 38, also had a short rest before waking to find ’20 doctors and nurses surrounding our little boy trying to bring him back to life’.
Archie suffered cardiac arrest three times over the next 15 to 20 minutes.
His parents were told that if it happened again, there was a 99 percent chance he would be brain dead.
“They told us his feet and hands would have to be amputated if his organs were to recover and that the next day was his first birthday,” Mrs Read said.
The couple begged doctors to do everything they could to keep Archie alive long enough for family and friends to say goodbye.
They filled the room with balloons and sang Happy Birthday. Mr. and Mrs. Read spent the night in his hospital bed before his ventilator was turned off.
Kylie and Gavin are pictured with baby Archie and his older sister Charlotte
Archie sadly passed away after an infection turned into sepsis, causing his organs to fail
The little boy celebrated his first birthday just hours before his life support was turned off
Five months later, the couple received a report detailing the hospital’s findings after a third party assessed how they had treated Archie.
It found that hospital staff at the New South Wales hospital missed eight opportunities to classify the baby as seriously ill and provide him with appropriate care.
The report also found that there were early signs that he had sepsis, but that treatment was started too late to confirm or treat it.
“It’s horrible. I really struggle to think, ‘Has anyone had a bad day?’ It wasn’t just one missed opportunity, it was eight,” Ms Read said.
She said triage nurses forgot to pass on key information to doctors when Archie was finally given a bed, and that an emergency assessment that should have taken place 30 minutes after a patient was classified as seriously ill took two hours.
“Sepsis takes over the body so quickly, time is of the essence,” said Ms Read.
“It’s difficult when I’m presented with a document that shows he’s supposed to still be alive.”
The mother of two now encourages parents, if they ever find themselves in a similar situation, to ask a doctor if their child could have sepsis.
“I feel like if I had said those words to the doctor, it would have stuck in the back of their minds. There was some indication that it could be sepsis, but they didn’t go down that route to rule it out,” Ms Read said.
Archie’s older sister Charlotte, now four, is pictured with nine-month-old Parker ‘Archie’ Read
‘Walk for Archie’ is an annual walk to raise money for Sepsis Australia
More than 150 people attended the first walk in 2023, raising $21,000 for Sepsis Australia
Archie is survived by his four-year-old sister Charlotte, who was two when he died, and his nine-month-old brother Parker, whose middle name is Archie.
“There were days I wanted to sit in a corner and cry, but I had to be strong for Charlotte,” Mrs Read said.
“She knows the pain of losing a brother. I couldn’t go through that pain again.”
The couple organise an annual walk for Sepsis Australia, which aims to raise awareness of the disease by visiting hospitals and educating parents.
Last year more than 150 people took part Walk for Archie in blue – Archie’s favorite color – and raised $21,000 for the organization.
The couple plan to walk again this year on World Sepsis Day on September 13th.