After meningitis and 11 operations to remove both legs and one arm Lillie-Mai is finally allowed home
Last updated at 5:39 PM on 10th May 2011
Medics had told Lillie-Mai Jackson's devastated parents that it would be best if her life-support machine was switched off.
But remarkably they gave her a second chance after her father Rupert Jackson, 31, noticed she reacted slightly every time someone closed the door and it banged.
Fighter: Lillie-Mai Jackson now six-months-old with her father Rupert and mother Belinda. Doctors pronounced her clinically dead after contracting meningitis
Belinda Little, 22, and her partner Mr Jackson refused to give up on their child who had been struck down by meningoccal septicaemia.
Lillie-Mai, now six-months, was 14-weeks old when she contracted the deadly virus and has lost both her legs and an arm to the disease.
Despite doctors giving her just two hours to live the child is now growing from strength to strength with her mother and father at their home in Maryport, Cumbria.
Lillie-Mai first began to show signs of illness in the early hours of Tuesday January 11 when she woke up shivering and fretful.
Ms Little said: 'We thought she was getting a cold and put her in bed with us. She's normally up at seven but she slept until 11am, when I woke her up.
'Her eyes were sunk into the back of her head. I took her to my mum's and said we should go for a walk.
Survivor: Lillie Mai after the crippling disease which meant she had to have both legs and an arm amputated, and right, at home in Maryport, Cumbria, before the deadly disease struck
'But when we returned I noticed she had a mark on her cheek. I left it for ten minutes but then another came up on her forehead.
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Terrified Ms Little dialled 999 and was told by the operator to press a glass to Lillie-Mai's skin to see if the spots would disappear, but this made no difference.
With medics suspecting meningitis an ambulance was rushed to collect the little girl and take her to the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven.
Ms Little added: 'From 5pm until 7pm that evening we were told we could not see her. A doctor came to talk to me and Rupert and said Lillie did have meningitis septicaemia.
'He told us that most children have a 75 per cent chance of surviving the virus, but because Lillie was so small, she had just a two per cent chance. We started contacting family to come and say goodbye, it was heartbreaking.
'When we were finally allowed to see Lillie, it was just awful. She was lying there lifeless, and had blown up to three times her normal size. She had wires and tubes coming out of her.'
Lillie-Mai was then transferred to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Newcastle by ambulance with Rupert and Belinda following closely behind.
They had been told it was unlikely she would survive the journey but the little fighter hung on.
However, early on Thursday morning, two days after she had become ill, Lillie-Mai suffered a cardiac arrest and doctors battled to save her.
Again, the little girl pulled through her but her horrified parents were then told that there was no hope for their child.
She was still horribly swollen and her body had become almost entirely black as the tiny spots multiplied and grew larger.
Ms Little added: 'I could hardly bear to look at Lillie like that. We went to get some fresh air and when we came back a lady doctor took us into a room and told us that Lillie-Mai would not survive the day.
She said Lillie had just two hours left. They said that if she had another cardiac arrest they would not intervene. They told us she was clinically dead and that it would be best to switch off the life support machine.
'It's difficult to describe how I felt, it was as though I was stuck in a nightmare. I said I don't care if she is brain damaged, or how brain damaged she is. We just want to take her home.'
But as medics began to wean Lillie off a cocktail of drugs in a last attempt to ascertain if she was showing any signs of life she started to respond to noise.
Rupert said: 'I noticed that every time someone closed the door and it banged there would be a small response.
'It wasn't much but I could see her reacting. I just kept thinking that must mean there was some brain function. Two hours passed, then three, then four, and we started feeling more hopeful.'
Doctors decided there was a chance Lillie-Mai could be saved after all and her life-support machine was kept switched on.
Although Lillie underwent 11 operations during the four months she spent in hospital and had to have both her legs and her left arm amputated she has amazed medics by surviving.
Belinda and Rupert now want to warn other parents about the dangers of meningitis and the signs they should look out for.
The Meningitis Trust urges parents to make themselves aware of the symptoms of the virus which include neck stiffness, convulsions, rapid breathing and unusual crying.
Lillie still has a lot of treatment to undergo and her parents are currently raising money so that Lillie may one day be fitted with prosthetic legs.
Because her legs were amputated above the knee, she will need bionic legs with flexible knees.
Rupert, who worked in the entertainment business before Lillie-Mai became ill, said: 'We don't know all the details yet but we have been told they cost about £20,000 and she will need new ones every year until she stops growing.'
Anyone wishing to donate should visit the Lillie-Mai Trust Facebook page. An account for Lillie has also been set up at the Cumberland Building Society and donations to the Lillie-Mai Jackson account can be left at any branch.
(source:dailymail.co.uk)================================================
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