A mum-of-three whose twins became critically ill after catching respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is urging pregnant women to get themselves vaccinated against the virus. Jodie Stalker, 36, had to watch as doctors fought to save her two-month-old babies Lennie and Maddie who fell ill just days apart and feared she would lose not one but both of her precious children.
Family life had been going well for Jodie and her husband Ryan, who also have a son, Dylan, four, after their twins were born in October last year. The beauty therapist hadn’t had any problems during her pregnancy and although they were born premature, Maddie and Lennie were otherwise healthy.
Then at eight weeks old, the nightmare began. “Lennie developed symptoms of RSV first,” recalls Jodie. “It started with just a bit of a runny nose which I didn’t think anything of initially. But then about three days later he became very lethargic and sleepy. One afternoon, Ryan had gone upstairs for a nap when I realised Lennie hadn’t moved for ages. I picked him up and noticed his skin had gone grey and he was floppy, so I dialled 111.”
The operator advised Jodie to undress Lennie and see if he became more alert. “When he didn’t, she told me to put him on the ground and see if his chest was moving. I couldn’t see him breathing and began to panic,” says Jodie. “She talked me through how to give him CPR as poor Dylan sat there watching. I told him to run upstairs and get Daddy and when Ryan came down, he took over. He’s first aid trained so carried on with CPR while I sat there cuddling Dylan as we waited for an ambulance.”
Thankfully, Lennie had started breathing a little by the time paramedics arrived and was rushed to hospital with Jodie while Ryan stayed home to look after Maddie and Dylan.
At first doctors didn’t know what was wrong with Lennie so put him on an antibiotic drip as a precaution and gave him oxygen. Once he was stable, they carried out swab and blood tests and the results came back positive for RSV.
“Nobody had even mentioned RSV to me when I was pregnant or when I’d had the babies,” says Jodie. “I knew a little about it because my friend’s child had had it, but I had no idea it could be so severe.”
RSV is a common virus that spreads from October to March each year in the UK. Symptoms are similar to a cold and can include a runny or blocked nose, sneezing, coughing, tiredness, wheezing, breathlessness and a high temperature (fever). In babies and children, RSV symptoms can also cause difficulty feeding. The virus can cause bronchiolitis (a type of chest infection) in babies, and pneumonia in babies and older adults.
A vaccination programme to protect newborn babies and older people against RSV is now being rolled out in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Women who are at least 28 weeks’ pregnant and people aged 75 to 79 will be offered the vaccine.
Jodie, from Norfolk, suspects Lennie had picked up the RSV virus from Dylan who may have caught it at school. The charity Asthma + Lung UK says RSV is very common in babies and young children and usually isn’t serious. But sometimes, it can develop into bronchiolitis – an infection of the smaller airways in the lungs – which is what happened in Lennie’s case.
He was put on high flow oxygen and given medication as Jodie sat by his bedside, begging him to pull through. But then she began worrying about Maddie too.
“The twins were always together, so whatever Lennie had I knew Maddie would have picked up as well,” explains Jodie.
She called Ryan and asked him to arrange a babysitter for Dylan and bring Maddie to the hospital to get checked out. Maddie seemed fine but was admitted anyway as a precaution.
Just 24 hours later, she began displaying symptoms of RSV and her oxygen levels dropped. Doctors administered antibiotics and put her on oxygen to help her breathe but her condition worsened. “Unfortunately, Maddie just got worse and worse and ended up sicker than Lennie,” Jodie remembers. “She was really struggling to breathe and by the fourth day the doctors had to put her on a CPAP machine (continuous positive airway pressure), but it didn’t help.
“I was going out of my mind with worry, rushing from one twin to the other. I couldn’t believe that only a few weeks ago I’d had two beautiful, healthy babies at home with me and now they were fighting for their lives in hospital. It was my worst nightmare.”
Maddie was blue-lighted to St Mary’s Hospital in London so she could be put on a ventilator. Doctors had to sedate her, and the next few hours were critical.
“The only good news we had by then was that Lennie was starting slowly to get better,” says Jodie. “Ryan and I were in survival mode through the whole thing though. We went to hell and back. They were our babies and all we wanted is for them to get better.”
Maddie suffered a collapsed lung during her ordeal, but the ventilation gave her tiny body a much-needed break. After 48 hours doctors took her off the ventilator and thankfully, she began to recover.
“She was very hungry so the first thing I did was breastfeed her which was amazing,” Jodie recalls. “It felt like I was helping her to get better.”
After 10 days both babies were able to come back home and luckily, they haven’t suffered any long-term health issues as a result of contracting RSV. Jodie describes them as ‘happy and mischievous.’ But she says she wouldn’t wish the experience on anyone.
“It was awful. I’m still really anxious whenever they get a cough or cold and said to Ryan that I never know when I will be able to sleep through the night again without checking on them,” says Jodie. “We used breathing monitors attached to their nappies for a while which gave me some peace of mind.
“The RSV vaccine wasn’t given to pregnant women when I had the twins, but I would urge any pregnant woman to have it now that it is available. I was lucky that my twins pulled through, but the outcome could have been very different and I’m so grateful to have them still here with us.”
“Knowing how dangerous RSV can be, I would say to any pregnant women out there please make sure you have the vaccine now it’s available,” says Jodie. “Ask your doctor or midwife about it if it isn’t offered to you. I knew very little about RSV when I was pregnant with Maddie and Lennie but having witnessed both of my babies almost dying from it, I would warn anyone not to take the risk.”
Jodie is running the Royal Parks Half Marathon on October 13th to raise money for children’s and neonatal intensive care units at two hospitals and is accepting donations here.