No one wants to see a baby in ICU, but one mum was prompted to share photos of her 6-week-old baby fighting for life in PEDS ICU after contracting whooping cough.
Annie Mae Braeden, from Victoria, Canada, has had to endure watching her 10 week old baby girl Isabelle rushed to PEDS ICU when she was only 6 weeks old because she stopped breathing after contracting whooping cough.
Annie Mae Braeden has shared Isabelle’s ordeal on a Facebook post that has gone viral and been shared over 10,000 times around the world. The pictures are heartbreaking. Isabelle has been on a ventilator for 3 weeks and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) for 3 days. She has to spend another 2 months in hospital and learn how to feed again. There have been complications with Isabelle experiencing withdrawals from morphine and sedatives while she was ventilated.
Annie wrote, “Do you know how hard it is to watch your 10 week old go through withdrawals??!! We were hours away from losing her, the nurse picked her up and ran her down the hall to the ICU to get her ventilated because we were losing her.”
In Australia, Light for Riley, started by Greg and Catherine Hughes has pledged to educate parents and medical professionals with the importance of pregnant women getting a booster shot for whooping cough in their third trimester, preferably in weeks 28 to 32.
Greg and Catherine lost their 1 month old sold Riley tragically to whooping cough in March 2015. Light for Riley was formed and the campaign has pledged to highlight the importance of vaccines.
For little Isabelle, she’s going to have a long road to recovery as her little body fights against the whooping cough. Annie shared the post about her daughter to encourage everyone to vaccinate their children.
“What you do with your kids is your choice but do not tell me that not vaccinating your kids isn’t hurting anyone but your own kids, Isabelle is proof that it harms other children who aren’t old enough to get their vaccines yet. My son is vaccinated to protect himself and the other kids he’s around. It never crossed my mind to not vaccinate, I want to protect my children and other children. Please vaccinate your kids, it’s not fair that my little girl is in the PICU coughing and turning blue with alarms going off because she can’t breathe just because you didn’t vaccinate your kids.”
We wish strength to Annie as Isabelle fights to get better.
I am just curious if the baby was breastfed. It could also possibly be a PSA to encourage more breastfeeding.