Olivia Story's Story

As reported by Phil Coleman

The News & Star 7/05/07

Please click here (for news & star article) or read below

SHE'S the kind of kid whose sunny smile and cheeky sense of humour would cheer
up just about anybody...
At just three years old, Olivia Story radiates happiness as the plays at home,
whether pushing her doll in its pram or bouncing gleefully on her tiny
trampoline.
Bubbly, intelligent, and full of mischief, she is understandably adored by her
family: parents, Kim, 27, and Mike, 31, and brother Joshua, eleven, and sister
Amber, eight.
Ten months ago, things looked horribly different for Olivia and her family: her
life - and her family's happiness -  were almost snatched away in the most cruel
way.
With terrifying speed, their world was shattered as Olivia was struck down by
the brain disease meningitis.
Incredibly, despite losing both her legs below the knee, and an arm, she has
fought her way back to health, learning to laugh again, and mastering her
"special" legs so completely she can now walk and even jump on her trampoline.
Olivia owes her life to the vigilance of her parents and the dedication of
medics in Carlisle and Newcastle.
Kim and Mike, from London Road, Carlisle, agreed to tell their daughter's
remarkable story because they wantto  raise awareness of this deadly and
horrible disease.
The family's ordeal began on July 12 last year.
Like most families, they were happily settled into a family routine, Olivia
spending around ten hours a week at Munchkins nursery on Wigton Road, Carlisle,
while Kim Brown worked part-time for the Children's Services Department of
Cumbria County Council.
Independent, sociable, and confident, Olivia loved her time at nursery, where
she could chat and play.
She was fine when Mike dropped her off there in the morning.  By 3pm, when he
collected her, she'd become  a little tired, tearful, and a little grumpy.
"She was prone to ear infections and we thought she was coming down with another
one," recalled Kim.
"She had a bit of a temperature so I gave her Calpol. After that she picked up,
until she was well enough to start jumping on the trampoline."
Later that night, at 10pm, Kim and Mike heard Olivia cry out from her bed. She'd
been slightly sick. By this time, Kim and Mike suspected the culprit was a
stomach bug.
Concerned but still not too worried, Kim made the crucial decision to sleep with
Olivia, setting her alarm so she could wake every two hours to check on their
daughter.
She said: "I didn't want her to be sick in bed without us knowing. At 4am, she
was fast asleep.
"But when the alarm woke me at 6am, I saw straight away that she looked grey,
listless and limp. Her lips were blue, and she was struggling to breathe,
wheezing. Her eyes were half closed."
Tears in her eyes, and fighting back panic, Kim called out to Mike, telling him
to call the emergency doctor as she instinctively checked Olivia for spots or
rashes: she found nothing but two tiny marks, nothing significant.
Mike said: "It was obvious there was something really wrong with Olivia.
"Cuedoc immediately called an ambulance. It was here in minutes."
In the ambulance, the paramedics immediately gave Olivia antibiotics - the first
and crucial line of defence for anybody with meningitis. Incredibly, it was only
last year that they won the right to administer the drug.
Kim and Mike's memory of the hours that followed are a mixture of fear, hope,
and horror at the destructive power of meningococcal septicaemia, the deadly
strain of meningitis that was now overwhelming their daughter.
One feature of the disease is massive damage caused to blood vessels by bacteria
as they die, and release poison into the body. This can cause blood to leak
under the skin, producing a telltale dark rash.
Mike said: "In casualty, Olivia was still conscious, and as she lay there,
asking for an Ice Pop, we could see this rash appearing all over her body and
spreading, her skin turning black in front of us."
Medics at The Cumberland Infirmary stabilised Olivia, putting saline drips into
her to restore her fluids.
Their hope that Olivia might recover was not realised and doctors decided her
best hope was treatment at the paediatric intensive care unit of Newcastle
General Hospital.
They prepared her by putting her on a ventilator, but secretly, the doctors
believed her chances of surviving the journey were slim.
"It was like it was happening to somebody else," said Mike, recalling the shock
of those first few hours.
In Newcastle, a small army of doctors and nurses battled for the next week beat
the disease, putting Olivia on dialysis to help her kidneys and pumping her full
of  drugs.
Pumped full of fluid, Olivia's body swelled grotesquely, leaving her barely
recognisable.
On the first night of her stay in Newcastle, her heart stopped, but was
thankfully restarted by a nurse.
Over the days that followed, her body was wracked by septicaemia, blood
poisoning caused by the bacteria toxins that were causing catastrophic damage to
Olivia's blood vessels, particularly her legs.
Starved of oxygen-laden blood, her legs and one arm steadily turned black as the
tissue died.
"It was absolutely horrific," said Mike.
Kim recalled: "By this stage, we knew that Olivia was going to survive, but it
was clear that she would have to have amputations. It's strange, but the hand
she didn't lose was the one we kept holding and rubbing to keep it warm.
"We knew our lives were going to change, but we were just so pleased that she
was going to survive."
There were many more scary moments: fears that Olivia may have suffered brain
damage, and the awful prospect of telling their daughter that she had lost both
legs and part of her left arm.
As she slowly regained consciousness, Olivia was in such a state of shock that
at first she would not speak.
By her bedside, day and night, Mike and Kim did their best to bring some
normality into her life: reading stories, playing with her teddy.
"We told her that she'd been very poorly, and her feet and hand were very
poorly, and had gone to heaven to make her better," said Kim.
Four weeks later, after spells in the Royal Victoria Infirmary, and another stay
at The Infirmary in Carlisle, Olivia was well enough to come home for the first
time.
Slowly, gently, surrounded by the love and support of her family, and friends,
and health professionals, Olivia has made a remarkable recovery.
Mike said: "She's very strong-willed, very determined, with a good sense of
humour. She likes taking her leg off and putting it on her arm. That's the kind
of thing that she does.
"If somebody says to her where's your arm gone, she'll say a crocodile's eaten
it. She chooses not to wear her prosthetic arm, and when we first got her home
she wouldn't wear her prosthetic legs.
"She screamed her head off if you tried to put it anywhere near her."
With encouragement, and the promise of a holiday, she has mastered what Kim and
Mike call her "special legs" so well that she can even run, play on the bouncy
castle, and climb the stairs.
In those first few week, Olivia would constantly ask to have her own legs and
arm back. Now her legs are rarely taken off.
Kim said: "We could not be more proud of her. It's been hard for the whole
family, but we all love her. Olivia is totally amazing: a very brave little
girl. She's looking forward, and wants to go swimming, to learn to ride a horse,
and to go in a helicopter.
"She'd see the air ambulance landing when she was in hospital. When she's older,
if she wants to rock-climb, the hospital's disabled services department have
said they'll design legs to fit round her lifestyle. There's no reason why she
won't be able to do all these things."
Kim and Mike are acutely aware that it was their vigilance that made the
difference between life and death for their daughter, allowing her to get the
penicillin early enough to save her life.
Mike said: "Most people know meningitis is bad but often they don't know just
how horrendous it can be and what it can lead to; that you can lose limbs and
just how life-threatening it is.
"We're speaking about what happened to Olivia because it's a very underreported
disease and people don't appreciate its real dangers."
For any parent who fears their child may be the next victim of this disease, the
best defence is to act quickly, and if you are in any doubt, seek a second
medical opinion.
Kim added: "There was a little boy in the RVI at the same time as Olivia and he
had no symptoms, apart from being listless. At the end of they, parents know
their children.
"If you've any suspicion that it might be meningitis, call the doctor right
away. If the doctor says there's nothing wrong, and you're still not convinced,
just keep pushing.
"Take your child to the hospital's A&E department. It's just not worth the risk
of doing nothing. If we'd waited that morning, giving it more time in the hope
that she might be alright because we didn't want to bother anyone, Olivia would
have died.
"Some doctors might even get angry if you don't accept what they say, but if you
disagree, go to casualty and get a second opinion. Your child's life could
depend on it."
The couple said a heartfelt thanks to the medical staff who worked with Olivia,
particularly paediatrician Dr Paul Whitehead and staff at the Cumberland
Infirmary, and mithe hospital's its disabled services department; and to the
many people who have raised funds for Olivia, who in the future will need
expensive prosthetic limbs.