Our son died at 4 days old from a silent killer that I passed on in childbirth – an £11 test could’ve saved him
TO this day, Dawn Powell blames herself for the death of her newborn son, at just four days old.
Little Archie entered the world 16 minutes before his twin sister Evalene, on February 10 last year.
Cradling him, Dawn, 42, felt “ecstatic”. But hours later, with Evalene safely delivered, Dawn became concerned for her son.
“I remember saying he didn’t sound right,” the mother of five says.
“A member of staff said, ‘Oh, he’s singing to you’.”
But his grunts were a sign he had Group B streptococcus (GBS) — a bacteria mums can carry with rarely any effect on their own health but which infects about 800 babies a year at birth and kills around 50 by leading to sepsis, meningitis or pneumonia.
The NHS does not routinely test mothers-to-be for GBS, instead using a risk-based prevention strategy.
Tests could cost the health service around £11 each if rolled out on a major scale, previous data has shown. And tests can be bought privately for around £35 each.
That has led to calls from charities and medics for all pregnant women to be tested before they give birth.
‘I HELD HIM AT THE END, WE WERE TOGETHER WHEN HE SLIPPED AWAY’
Just four days after Archie was born, Dawn and her husband Kevin Powell, 52, from Margate, Kent, held their son for the final time. Tests revealed that Archie had been infected with GBS, which in turn caused severe sepsis.
He was the couple’s first son, twin to Evalene and baby brother to their daughters Kienna, 12, Aralyn, ten, and Lyara, nine — as well as Kevin’s two older daughters from a previous relationship.
Despite Dawn’s three previous pregnancies, neither she nor Kevin understood the dangers of GBS before the twins’ birth.
“Thinking back, they once said ‘Are you GBS positive?’” Dawn says.
“I said no because I didn’t really know what it was and I hadn’t been told about it.”
The pregnancy had gone well and the couple welcomed Archie and Evalene at Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate.
Dawn says: “I held Archie straight away. He was skin-to-skin for quite some time. Evalene had the cord round her neck, so initially she was the concern and not Archie.”
Hours later, they first noticed Archie was making distinctive grunting noises.
Dawn says: “Now, when you read up on all the Group B Strep symptoms, grunting is a sign of respiratory distress.”
After Aimee began fitting, she was taken to a high-dependency room next door. Shortly afterwards, Charlotte was informed Aimee had severe meningitis.
“My world just crumbled. I completely broke down,” she says.
“They told me it was a 24-hour critical window and she possibly had a five per cent chance of survival.”
Five days later, Charlotte received more devastating news: GBS had caused Aimee’s meningitis.
“I said, ‘What’s that?’. They explained to me I was the carrier and that I passed it on to her.
“I just felt awful. I felt so bad I’d given it to her. It was horrible.”
Follow-up tests showed that while Aimee’s hearing and eyesight were unaffected, she was not hitting vital milestones such as sitting up and crawling.
When Aimee was nine months old, Charlotte was told her little girl could have cerebral palsy. She quit her job at a nursery to dedicate her time to caring for her daughter.
‘I WISH I’D PAID £35 FOR A PRIVATE TEST’
It was then Charlotte came across the charity Group B Strep Support.
“It blew me away that I could have had a test privately for £35,” she says.
“If only I’d known, I could have paid for it. What’s £35 compared to what I’m having to live with now?”
But in spite of everything, Aimee has now surpassed the doctors’ predictions. She can sit up unaided and eats one small meal a day, relying on a feeding tube the rest of the time.
“Her condition is limiting,” Charlotte says. “But she laughs all the time. She’s such a happy, smiley little girl.”
A few months ago, Charlotte was delighted to learn she is pregnant again, with her new partner. Understandably, she is nervous about giving birth.
But she knows she will be given antibiotics to reduce the baby’s risk of contracting GBS.
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This time around, Charlotte knows the risks and the potentially devastating consequences. She knows, too, it can be prevented.
Her wish, and Dawn’s, is that every mum-to-be knows it.
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