‘He was our miracle baby and our last chance of having kids – now he’s gone.’
Those are the heart wrenching words of a devastated Yorkshire mum after recalling the traumatic hours left of her son’s life. Sheffield mum Sammy Knowles recalled how medical teams worked on her four year old son Jaxon – who was ‘crying blood’ – after spotting a rash which led to a fatal diagnosis of meningitis.
Sammy, 40 and her husband John, 38, had taken Jaxon on holiday but would never know of the traumatic horror that would unfold once they got back home. The family had taken Jaxon to Blackpool for the weekend, where his uncle had joined him as well as a family friend. Sammy recalls how Jaxon loved to dive bomb in the pool and ‘acted like a lunatic’ on the short break before returning home on Sunday, February 16.
But when it was time to go home, Jaxon suddenly became unwell and died a day later in hospital on Monday, February 17. Mrs Knowles said: “He was complaining about under his arm [armpit] hurting. He then went to sleep for a while before waking up to say that he had a tummy ache.
“When we got home around 6pm on Sunday, as I lifted him out of the car he kept asking to sleep in ‘mummy’s bed’ – which he always did when he was ill.
“He often got chest infections, so it was nothing new. I gave him some Calpol, which usual sorts out illnesses and did keep his temperature down. I stayed up with him till 2am and then woke up at 5am where I used my torch on my phone so I was able to see his temperature reading – but that was when I saw a rash.
“My first thought was that it was chicken pox and I was devastated for him but when I turned on the lamp next to me, I immediately saw how bad it was.
“I told my husband that I wanted to go to A&E straightaway and as we were getting dressed his condition got worse. He threw up, then his mouth and tongue began swelling. We immediately called 999 who told us to lay him down but he couldn’t breathe so we had to turn him to his side.
‘Felt like an eternity’
“It felt like an eternity had passed until emergency responders arrived then the ambulance crews. We were not told anything about it being meningitis until we were in the ambulance where we were told 15 nurses and doctors were waiting in the ICU of Rotherham Hospital.
“I was in shock as I had not heard anything about meningitis for years.” In the hospital, doctors and nurses worked hard on Jaxon as his rash continued to get worse and turn purple. Sammy and John did all they could to try and comfort him.
Mrs Knowles said: “He just kept asking to sleep in mummy’s room. I tried to distract him by singing his favourite lullabies. He was crying blood and it was awful.”
“The doctors eventually told us that he needed to be put into a coma and the plan was to send him to a children’s hospital. They continued to work on him and told us that they managed to restart his heart when it stopped but then we were urgently called back into the room as he had then died.”
Now, a few days since his passing, Jaxon’s mum and dad are still in shock of what has happened as they prepare for a funeral on March 10. Mrs Knowles said: “It still doesn’t feel real. He was fine all weekend and in a matter of hours he is gone. There were no symptoms of meningitis.”
‘Our last chance of having kids’
“He was our miracle baby and our last chance of having kids as I am 40-years-old. We tried for seven years and went through five rounds of IVF as well as other fertility treatments.
“He changed our world and finally made us parents after we suffered three miscarriages. He took our sadness away. He loved going on holiday and travelled the world with us. We took him to Lapland last Christmas.”
Adding: “He was such as good boy, no trouble at all. Now we have nothing.”
A charity foundation page has been made in which all donations goes to Meningitis Now in Jaxon’s name. Tonight at the Sheffield Wednesday game against Sunderland, which kicks off at 8pm, there will be a four-minute clap to remember Jaxon who was a big fan of the club.
