The mother of a baby who tragically died of sepsis on his first birthday is urging parents to remember four simple words if their children ever fall ill in hospital.
Kylie Read, a 36-year-old mother of two from New South Wales, wishes she had asked doctors “could it be sepsis?” during a 12-hour hospital stay with her son, Archie, in 2022.
Archie died after a group A strep infection turned into sepsis, causing his organs to shut down just hours after his first birthday on August 23.
Ms. Read rushed him to the emergency department after noticing he hadn’t urinated in hours and was refusing formula and food.
While Archie was being processed at the triage desk, Ms Read noticed a slight rash on his back and informed the nurses, who she said were not “overly alarmed”.
They waited in the emergency department for six hours before Archie was given a bed and given Hydralyte via syringe in the hopes it would make him urinate.
As nurses placed a tube in the boy’s arm, they praised his calm demeanor, not realizing that his lethargy was a crucial sign that his organs were shutting down.
“That’s why I wasn’t urinating, the heart stops pumping blood to any part of the body that doesn’t need it,” Ms Read told the Daily Mail Australia.
Kylie Read, a 36-year-old mother of two from New South Wales, wishes she had asked doctors if it could be sepsis during a 12-hour hospital stay with her son Archie in August 2022
Mrs Read, 36, and her husband Gavin, 38, are pictured with Archie in hospital.
‘Then his feet and hands started to turn blue.’
Concerns were brought to the attention of the paediatrician at 8.30pm for an emergency check-up after Archie became “completely limp” and his rash worsened.
The doctor checked on Archie two hours later and decided to move him to intensive care, where he sedated him to allow his body to rest.
Mrs Read said she and her husband Gavin, 38, also rested before waking up to “20 doctors and nurses around our little boy trying to bring him back to life”.
Archie went into cardiac arrest three times over the next 15 to 20 minutes.
His parents were told that if this happened one more time there was a 99 percent chance he would be brain dead.
“We were told they would have to amputate his feet and hands if his organs recovered and the next day was his first birthday,” Read said.
The couple begged doctors to do everything they could to keep Archie alive long enough for his family and friends to say their final goodbyes.
They filled the room with balloons and sang Happy Birthday. Mr and Mrs Read spent the night in his hospital bed before he was taken off life support.
Kylie and Gavin are pictured with baby Archie and his older sister Charlotte.
Archie sadly died after an infection turned into sepsis, causing his organs to stop functioning.
The little boy celebrated his first birthday just hours before his life support was taken off
Five months later, the couple received a report detailing the hospital’s findings after a third party reviewed how they treated Archie.
It was revealed that staff at the NSW hospital had missed eight opportunities to classify the baby as critically ill and provide him with appropriate care.
The report also revealed there had been some early signs he had sepsis, but the pathway to confirm or treat it was activated too late.
“It’s horrible, it’s been a real struggle to think, ‘Did anyone have a bad day?’ It wasn’t one missed opportunity, it was eight,” Read said.
She said triage nurses failed to pass on crucial information to doctors when Archie finally got a bed, and that an emergency review that should happen 30 minutes after a patient is marked critically ill took staff two hours.
“Sepsis takes over the body very quickly, time is of the essence,” Ms Read said.
“It’s difficult when I have a document in front of me that says I should be alive.”
The mother of two now encourages parents to ask doctors if their children might have sepsis if they ever find themselves in a similar situation.
“I feel like if I had said those words to the doctor, they would have stuck in their head. They were told somewhere that it could be sepsis, but they didn’t rule it out,” Read said.
Archie’s older sister Charlotte, now four, is pictured with nine-month-old Parker ‘Archie’ Read.
‘Walk for Archie’ is an annual walk held to raise funds for Sepsis Australia
Over 150 people attended the first walk in 2023 and raised $21,000 for Sepsis Australia
Archie is survived by his four-year-old sister, Charlotte, who was two when he died, and his nine-month-old brother, Parker, whose middle name is Archie.
“There were days when I wanted to just break down in a corner and cry, but I needed to be strong for Charlotte,” Ms Read said.
“She knows the pain of losing a brother. I couldn’t go through that pain again.”
The couple have organised an annual Sepsis Australia Walk which helps raise awareness of the disease by visiting hospitals and educating parents.
Last year more than 150 people participated Archie’s Walk while wearing blue – Archie’s favorite color – and raised $21,000 for the organization.
The couple We plan to walk again this year on World Sepsis Day September 13th.
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