'Elsie is a perfect example of what can go wrong' - Peterborough mum issues plea to keep sick children at home due to devastating effects slapped cheek can have
A mother from Peterborough has issued a heartfelt plea for parents to keep their children at home if they contract slapped cheek due to the devastating effect the condition has had on her family.
Zoe Ellard (36) from Eye is on a campaign educate parents on the dangers of slapped cheek- especially for pregnant women.
Zoe was rushed to hospital in July 2023 after contracting a case of slapped cheek that her daughter Maddison had picked up at school. Zoe was pregnant at the time with her baby Elsie, who is now two years old.
The infection became so serious that Zoe was told that her baby would not survive and would be a stillborn. This was due to the slapped cheek causing Elsie to contract another serious condition called Hydrops Fetalis- a severe swelling caused by the slapped cheek virus. This causes large amounts of fluid to build up in the tissue and organs of a baby and causes extensive swelling. Around half of babies who contract Hydrops do not survive.
Fortunately, Elsie defied doctors and is now attending nursery but her experiences as a baby have left her with a number of health conditions and vulnerabilities, therefore keeping her from contracting slapped cheek and other conditions is of the upmost importance.
What is slapped cheek?
Slapped cheek syndrome is caused by a virus called Parovirus B19 and is most commonly seen in children (but can be contracted by adults in rare cases) and presents with symptoms of headaches, high temperature, runny nose and sore throat as well as a red rash on one or both cheeks, for which the syndrome gets its name.
It is spread through coughing, sneezing or touching contaminated objects and can spread very quickly as often people may not realise that their child has got it until they get the rash.
Currently, guidelines state that children can continue to attend school and nursery with slapped cheek, something Zoe is keen to see change.
Changing guidelines
One guideline change Zoe has welcomed is the support offered to pregnant women that have been contracted slapped cheek.
Zoe said: “When I contracted slapped cheek, they didn’t have to give me a blood test and didn’t but now,particularly at Peterborough City Hospital, they are doing blood tests, isolating patients and these tests help them pick it up as soon as they can.
“I get people contact me all the time messaging me about even doctors lacking the knowledge about the condition and really, it does seem that nobody knows how dangerous it is.
“I have been contracted by a couple who sadly lost their baby due to Hydrops. I put them in contact with the professor who did the blood transfusions for Elsie when I was pregnant and he couldn’t believe there was so little knowledge about it. They said that had they spoken about this two weeks, earlier, it probably would have saved their baby’s life."
Elsie’s condition
Just two weeks after advising the hospital that her eldest daughter Maddison had contracted slapped cheek, Zoe rang the hospital’s NHS helpline for pregnant women to say that she felt very, very big and heavy despite being only 25 weeks pregnant.
She sent a recording of her baby’s heartbeat to a midwife who told her to go straight to hospital and there Zoe learnt that she had entered pre-term labour.
This meant that she was blue-lighted to Luton and Dunstable University Hospital, where she was told that her baby had fluid on her brain, her heart and her stomach and her organs were failing, meaning that she would not survive.
While all this was going on, Zoe herself was suffering from mirror syndrome which meant that she also contracted a number of Elsie’s symptoms, including heart failure and liver problems.
Given the news that she was very likely to give birth to a stillborn, Zoe discharged herself on July 20 to spend time at home with Maddison and her family only to go into labour that day and had to be driven back to Peterborough City Hospital.
The team managed to deliver Elsie and ventilated her upon delivery but Zoe was still told that it would be a few hours wait to see if she would survive.
Eight hours later, the family were transported to Leicester Royal Infirmary and remained there for six weeks, while Elise fought but ultimately won her battle for life. She was then moved back to Peterborough before finally being discharged.
She was born after only 27 weeks via a breach birth due to a placental abruption.
"People think I’m so protective but she in hospital for four days because she caught a cold”
As a result of her premature birth, she was on oxygen for the first 18 months of her months and has chronic lung disease.
Zoe said: “We very much have to isolate her, she doesn’t go out in the cold, wet or rain because it makes her poorly.
“It’s a long-term effect for her. She still has a hole in her heart, she doesn’t eat solids because she can’t tolerate food, the list with her is just ongoing. This is is I am so adamant that more people need to know that this is what you can do to someone’s child if you are not aware that slapped cheek is dangerous. Elsie is a perfect demonstration of what can go wrong.
"I have to be so careful. People laugh at me but I have to say, your child having a cold will put my child in hospital. People think I’m so protective but, before Christmas, she was admitted to hospital and we were there for four days because she caught a cold.
"We have to wrap her in cotton wool and I am now at home with her all of the time. I used to be a hairdresser but I can’t do that anymore.
"People need to understand what slapped cheek is and how it effects pregnant women and the effect it can have on their babies – if they survive- which nine times out of ten they don’t.
Zoe has placed a special thank you to Elsie’e nursery- Toddlers Inn Day Nursery in Eye- for their support in keeping Elsie safe.
She added: “Elsie’s nursery really go above and beyond. They do so much to protect her vulnerability. When they had slapped cheek in the nursery, they wrote the most incredible email to parents telling them not to bring their children in because Elsie was on the premises.
"They are so brilliant. They accommodate her when she is able to go and they ring me to let me know if there are any bugs in the nursery.
“At the minute, unless you know someone who has been through this and has a baby that has been poorly because you have contracted slapped cheek as a pregnant woman, they you most likely don’t get it and that’s what my fight is. Not many people do that that it is dangerous."