Whooping Cough - A baby In Starship's Intensive Care Video Transcript

Transcript for whooping cough - a baby in Starship's Intensive Care video

Dr Fiona Miles, Intensivist, Starship Hospital

Te Uru is nearly 8 weeks old now she has been in hospital for 6 weeks of her life with whooping cough. She became unwell when she was only 2 weeks old and spent 2 weeks at another hospital and then came to the intensive care at Starship with a whooping cough because she was so desperately sick. She has needed a lot of help over her month with us in the intensive care unit including having a breathing tube put down because she was coughing so hard she couldn't breathe in and couldn't get oxygen and nearly had a full respiratory and cardiac arrest so her heart and lungs weren't working because she was coughing so hard. We get a lot of babies that are as sick as Te Uru every year with a whooping cough and it's usually because they've been too young to have the immunisations or because the parents have chosen not to.

It was pretty scary when Te Uru needed to have the breathing tube on Friday wasn't it? How did you feel when all that was happening?

Leeanne Clark, Te Uru's mother

I was scared, terrified.

Dr Fiona Miles

Did you think she might die then?

Leeanne Clark

Yeah, I did.

Dr Fiona Miles

She looked like she was going to didn't she?

Leeanne Clark

Yes, yes, hard.

Dr Fiona Miles

Yeah, really hard and it's been hard being in hospital for such a long time too hasn't it?

Leeanne Clark

Yeah.

Dr Fiona Miles

Yeah. Do you still get worried that she's going to die from this?

Leeanne Clark

Yes, yeah. Go to bed you know worrying that something might happen. I get up in the morning and come down and she might not be here.

Dr Fiona Miles

Yeah, and how do you feel when we ring you up?

Leeanne Clark

Oh my heart drops. You know every time I get a phone call from the nurse or something I just I don't really want to answer it.

I'm Leeanne and this is my baby Te Uru and I'm gutted to see her go through this. Very sad and scary, very scary.