A toddler had to wait more than five hours for a scan after suffering an incredibly rare stroke potentially caused by chicken pox which left him unable to speak.
Mum Holly Mather was bathing two-year-old Reuben at home in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, when she noticed he looked in pain. When the youngster’s face began to droop on one side - a tell-tale sign of the catastrophic brain injury - she sprang into action and dialled 999.
Little Reuben then waited nearly an hour for an ambulance, before he was brought to Worcester Royal Hospital at 7.30pm and wasn’t seen until after 9pm. Dad Liam Mather told how he begged doctors to carry out a CT scan, which they eventually did at midnight confirming the parents’ suspicions.
"He’s a healthy, normal two-year-old boy - it was completely out of the blue," Liam told The Mirror. Moments before the stroke, Reuben had been pulling a grimacing expression "as though he was in pain", before Holly, 33, noticed he was rubbing his eyes and the corner of his mouth had dropped.
Dad Liam said they had to convince doctors to scan Reuben amidst fears he’d had a stroke (Supplied)
Mum Holly recognised the signs after noticing his face had fallen on one side (Supplied)"The 999 operators didn’t put it as a priority which is unbelievable," he said. "Holly had to call them again to upgrade it. When they got to hospital, they said they thought it was unlikely he had suffered a stroke and they thought he would just get better on his own."
Liam had not been at home at the time, but rushed to the hospital to join the two, where they were waiting in A&E to be seen, frantic with worry. He said: "As a father, I got there and Reuben didn’t even recognise me. I was telling doctors, ’he needs a CT scan’. It took me half an hour to convince them."
Reuben was then given aspirin in the early hours of the morning - nearly eight hours after he first displayed the signs, with the scan revealing he had suffered "significant damage" to the left side of his brain. "The doctors we saw at Worcester had never seen a stroke in a child Reuben’s age before," Liam added.
Doctors treating Reuben at Royal Worcester Hospital had never seen a stroke in a child his age before (Supplied)
Derby County fan Reuben has lost speech and movement in one side of his body after the stroke (Supplied)"As fantastic as the NHS are, unfortunately there are just too many people, and not enough resources. If you go to A&E, you’re just waiting in an ambulance."
Reuben, who fell ill in May, has since been transferred to a specialist paediatric stroke unit at Birmingham Children’s Hospital and has lost his speech, but as brain plasticity in children his age is greater, he is slowly starting to regain it. He’s also lost movement down his right side.
Only 400 children suffer from strokes each year in the UK, but the rate in youngsters below five is even smaller. As with Reuben’s stroke, the risk is higher in children who have recently had chicken pox in the last six months - which applied in Reuben’s case.
Parents Liam and Holly, who also have daughter Ivy, six, have now set up a Gofundme page for Reuben’s rehabilitation and care. The money will be spent on speech therapy, as well as physiotherapy and any installations the family will need at home.
Liam also put out calls for parents to be aware of the risks of strokes in young children after recovering from chicken pox, which can cause vasculitis - inflammation of the blood vessels - in the brain. "Holly recognised the dropped face straight away and knew he needed an ambulance as soon as possible. It’s so important to act quickly with strokes - timing is crucial."
Dr Jules Walton, joint Chief Medical Officer at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Where concerns are raised about care received we will undertake a rapid review and investigate further where required. Due to patient confidentiality we are unable to comment further at this time.”
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