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It was a Sunday morning that
Junior became ill. For once he was not hungry;
he was always the biggest eater between him and
his twin brother Nasoni. Today he was sleepy,
hot. I gave him some paracetamol but he was so
sleepy and floppy so I decided to phone Starship
Hospital. We were soon on our way to the
hospital.
Initially it was thought
Junior had a chest infection as they performed
various tests. He was admitted into the
hospital;. Sakiusa, Juniors dad, who Junior is
named after, arrived at the hospital so I popped
off to get some food. On my return Sakiusa and
Junior had gone. Junior had taken a turn for the
worse and was unable to breathe for himself. He
was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit and was
on a ventilator to assist his breathing. A rash
had appeared on his skin, a nurse had now
realised Junior was suffering from meningococcal
septicaemia.
I was so scared, I didn’t
know much about this disease and Junior was so
sick I could not recognise him. His body was
bloated; his skin was covered in the rash and
looked like he had been burnt. The doctors told
us he had a 50/50 chance of surviving. Junior’s
body shut down, his major organs stopped functioning; only his heart was working.
The following week in an 8 ½
hour operation Junior had both legs amputated to
the knees, the right arm to the elbow and some
of his nose and ears. I thought” he’ll be
okay now “. He was making some improvement
breathing alone and opening his eyes, but his
little body was in a bad way. Then an infection
took hold and the fever returned and we used
fans to keep him cool. Junior was fighting for
his life. |
