THE experience of a Co Antrim couple when the flu symptoms being exhibited by their seven-year-old daughter rapidly deteriorated to the point where she was left fighting for her life must have been terrifying.
Aine and Eoghan O’Brien’s daughter Carla was sent home from school with flu-like symptoms but within days the little girl was in an intensive-care unit, diagnosed with diabetic ketoacidosis.
She was transferred from Antrim Area Hospital to the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children after tests confirmed that she had type-one diabetes.
Thankfully Carla is making progress but her parents have urged parents to not take any childhood illness lightly as they point out that their little girl was a fit and healthy child who displayed none of the typical symptoms of the condition.
As Mrs O’Brien said, their experience was every parent’s worst nightmare.
Diabetes is a serious condition and has to be treated carefully when diagnosed, so to find out that a young person is suffering from it in these circumstances must have been very distressing.
Mrs O’Brien urged parents to watch their children carefully, even when believing they are afflicted with usually non-life-threatening conditions like flu, just in case.
