Baby born after 16 miscarriages killed by meningitis

A mum who overcame 16 miscarriages to give birth to her “miracle girl” told how it took just six hours for meningitis to kill her “perfectly healthy” daughter.

Fleur-Rose Allen died on April 4 this year, just days after she started walking for the first time.

The 15-month-old, who was born on New Year’s Eve 2014 – two-and-a-half months premature following a difficult pregnancy - woke with a slight temperature and crying.

Her mum, hairdresser Lizzie Allen, 32, thought she had a bug and gave her water and Calpol.

But hours later, after suffering four cardiac arrests, she was declared dead, reports Mirror.

Her brave mum, in her only interview, said she wanted other parents to know how quickly meningitis can become deadly.

“Fleur-Rose was so healthy,” she recalled. “She was toddling and laughing the day before she died.

At 1pm on the day we lost her, she was sat on her daddy Matt’s knee, grinning away. Around lunchtime she began retching, but her oxygen levels were still 100 per cent.

At 1pm she had an X-ray on her chest, which was clear, but she still was not eating.

“I remember saying at teatime, ‘Shall we try her with some food.

“She had one mouthful of mashed potato.”

It was at this point that Lizzie noticed a slight red blotch on Fleur-Rose’s neck, which spread down it as she watched.

“I just shouted to Matt, ‘Go and get a nurse.’

“But moments later it had gone and there were only tiny pinprick marks.”

At 5.30pm Fleur-Rose was admitted to a side room.

“She was pale, but conscious and crying,” said Lizzie. “They were trying to get a water sample from her.

“They said they were going to give her an antibiotic, which would treat meningitis .”

It was the first time she had heard mention of meningitis .

“I was terrified,” she said.
Then, at 6pm, Fleur-Rose was moved to the resuscitation unit and a specialist team from Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, was called in.

“She deteriorated before our eyes,” Lizzie continued, recalling how her daughter suffered four cardiac arrests.

“The rash returned, creeping from her feet to her head and at 11.04pm there was nothing more they could do.

“My darling daughter died.”
It was subsequently discovered that Fleur-Rose had been suffering from streptococcal meningitis, a bacterial strain of the illness.

the day she was bornHer mum now wants to promote greater awareness of the symptoms of meningitis in youngsters.

“People always look for the rash, but her rash didn’t develop until later,” she said.

“At lunchtime she was cheerful, but actually she was being killed from the inside out.

“She was too young to articulate how she felt.

She couldn’t say, ‘Mummy my eyes hurt; Mummy I have a bad tummy’.

“I think every child who is admitted to hospital with similar symptoms should automatically have a meningitis check.

“A child’s life isn’t a lottery.”
Since Fleur-Rose’s death, Lizzie has raised £12,000 for Meningitis Now in her daughter’s name.

“I want people to remember her,” she said. “I had 16 unexplained miscarriages in six years before she was born."