Two-year-old Jasper Allan spent five days in hospital with "worst ever case of chickenpox", and now his mum wants to raise awareness of the dangers of the illness.
Jasper's mum, Sarah Allan, said she wanted her kids to get chickenpox while they were young so that it would be out of the way, explaining how she "didn't think there was any harm in letting him get it.”
“But to see him get it like that and see how it took over his body was just heartbreaking. Nearly every child I've ever had in my care has had chickenpox at some point, but never like this,” she added.
Sarah, who is also mum to five-year-old Poppy, explained how she had called her GP to book an appointment, claiming the receptionist told her "every mother thinks their child has bad chickenpox" - at the time her son had “hundreds” of spots.
However, when her son began getting a high fever, Sarah, 36, who lives in Cambridgeshire in England with her husband Keith, brought him to the same surgery the following day where he was prescribed antibiotics.
"I knew I wasn't being a neurotic mother - I have two children and have run a nursery and seen hundreds of kids with chickenpox before so I knew this wasn't normal.”
Unfortunately, his condition deteriorated and the little boy ended up in hospital for five days with an IV drip, antiviral medication, antibiotics and morphine.
"Everyone's reactions in the hospital were just complete shock over how severe it was - the doctors all wanted to come and see this worst ever case of chickenpox," explained Sarah.
"There was even talk about using the pictures for a medical journal. One of the paediatric nurses with 40 years' experience said she had never seen anything like it."
Sarah is now calling on the UK government to make the chickenpox vaccination part of the routine childhood vaccination programme.
It is also not offered routinely in Ireland via the HSE.
"We are one of the only countries who do not routinely vaccinate against chickenpox - Europe, the USA and Australia all now do.”
"My kids have had all their immunisations but this was not something that ever crossed my mind to vaccinate them against privately.”
