4 y.o. boy beats deadly disease THREE times
Published: January 17, 2008
Meet Bailey Smillie – the mini medical marvel who has amazed doctors by beating a deadly blood disease THREE TIMES.
Four-year-old Bailey has confounded all expert opinion which says a person should only be able to contract meningococcal septicaemia once.
More incredibly still, Bailey has beaten each bout of the illness – any of which could have killed him.
Mum Martine Robinson, 24, said: “He’s been very unlucky and very lucky at the same time.
“No one knows how he managed to get the illness again and again – it shouldn’t have been possible. But he’s come through it without any lasting effects.
“One of the major side-effects is deafness, but each time Bailey has been OK. It’s a miracle, really”.
Experts say meningococcal septicaemia – which can be caused by the same bacteria as meningitis – should only affect a person once.
Once they have contracted the blood poisoning, their body should build up a natural immunity against it.
For someone to suffer once is unusual and twice is very rare. But for it to have happened a third time is “exceptional” and only a handful of cases have been recorded worldwide.
Bailey’s consultant paediatrician at St James’s Hospital in Leeds, Dr Ragbir Thethy, said he had never come across another instance in his 20-year career.
In fact he is so stunned by Bailey’s case that he plans to write a research paper on him.
Dr Thethy told the YEP: “It is extremely rare for a child to get this three times.
“Thankfully his mother picked it up quickly and the doctors who first treated him were not dissuaded by the fact he had suffered this before.
“Technically he should have been immune to it after the first time and we’re not sure why he isn’t. We’re going to run more extensive tests to see if there is an underlying cause and to find out what we can do to prevent it coming back again.
“Myself and my colleagues hope to write a medical paper on Bailey’s experience because it is so unusual.”
Bailey’s parentsMartine and Ryan Smiley, 24, from Gipton, Leeds, now want to warn other parents to be on their guard for symptoms of meningococal septicaemia – even if their child has already suffered.
Bailey first caught the bug when he was just six weeks old. He spent seven days in Jimmy’s. The next time he was six months old and this time spent nine days in hospital.
After that he was placed on a course of preventative antibiotics for more than two years.
However, on Saturday he fell ill again and recognising the symptoms, Martine called an ambulance and he was rushed back to St James’s.
After treatment he was allowed home yesterday evening.
Martine said: “Like everyone else we thought it could only happen once. Thankfully Bailey has been OK. But we want everyone else to be aware. You shouldn’t rule out meningococal septicaemia because it can happen again – Bailey is proof of that.”
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