Sophia Elizabeth-Ann Hudson

Hi my name is Samantha & I’m Sophia’s mum.

Just as a trigger warning, this is a sad story & a heartbreaking read. I post this to mainly spread awareness of IGAS & sepsis. I pray no other family has to ever go through this, even more so I pray no other baby ever has a story similar……

Our beautiful Sophia sadly went to heaven on 27/05/23 with sepsis caused by Invasive Group A Strep….

Sophia was a little burst of sunshine, she lit up everyone’s lives, even those who never got the chance to meet her. A little life loved more than words can say, she had such a huge impact to many people.

A normally healthy baby, a normal night of her being unsettled but strangely not feeding as normal, she went to bed a smiling, happy girl but woke at 4am & wouldn’t take her usual feed… we held her on our chest, mum had her till 5am then dad took over as her big sister woke up & needed mama…. Dad woke mum up around 6am saying ‘babe come and feel her, she’s as hot as a cup of tea’. Mum went over, touched her then immediately checked her temp. The thermometer read 38.6 so mum administered calpol & checked again 5 mins later. Sophia’s temperature has risen to 39.3 & dad said she needs to get checked. Mum didn’t even get dressed, we went downstairs and got into the car seat and we drove down to A&E. mum said ‘I bet we get there & her temps back to normal, but with her kidney problems we have to take caution’.

Mum & baby entered A&E. dad went back to be with Jasmine, her 15m old sister. Upon registering at hospital, we were immediately called to triage & then taken to a cot room where a doctor was waiting for us. Within 10 mins Sophia had a cannula in, bloods done & she was being prepped for a lumbar puncture to check her fluids…. From here, things continued to deteriorate, lots more serious tests done & the most senior doctors working on Sophia. Throughout this all, we never knew how serious things were. We were told at 11am that we were being admitted to the children’s ward for at least 48 hours whilst the blood cultures results came back, but Sophia was to be treated for sepsis as a caution… Sophia’s stats continued to worsen, they couldn’t stabilise her enough to move her out of A&E to get her to the ward…. She needed fluids, medicine & monitoring continuously, so much so that a nurse from the ward had to come down and attend to her at all times.

things continued to deteriorate, Sophia eventually took a bottle from mum but she was still deteriorating. Doctors from Evalina hospital came by ambulance to take over & take her to intensive care at one of the most serious children’s hospitals in London. At this stage Sophia needed help breathing so they had to put a breathing tube in, as they sedated her to do this, she went into a cardiac arrest. The amazing doctors managed to bring her back and insert the breathing tube to take over as she was struggling. Sophia’s pulse was so weak they had to administer adrenaline to get her heart pumping but the maximum dosage wasn’t enough.

At this point, 3 doctors from different departments say mum & dad down to ask if they should continue or if we wanted to cuddle her in her last moments- even if they tried everything and got her to the ambulance, she may have stopped breathing on route & it would’ve been very distressing. Mum & dad both agreed, we had to give her everything possible & not give up.

Doctors persisted, they managed to stabilise her enough to transfer her onto the ambulance stretcher, the A&E waiting room was cleared and a screen put up for the privacy of the Sophia & her family. They wheeled her round to the ambulance bay but half way there we had to stop to administer more adrenaline for Sophia’s heart….

We took around 15 more steps & finally got to the ambulance. Sophia, once again, needed an adrenaline top up.

The senior consultant took mums hand & said ‘we’re hurting her more than we’re helping her at this point. Let’s go back to the room, we’ll put Sophia in your arms & remove all machines one by one. Let Sophia’s last breath be in mummy’s arms, instead of on a stretcher going down the road where you can’t hold her’.

At that point, mum, dad, nanny & 3 of Sophia’s maternal aunts all went back to the treatment room and surrounded Sophia with love in her last moments.

Sophia was born with a huge birthmark from under her foot to her knee. Over time, this swelled in thickness & she was seen by doctors & mum was reassessed this was all normal. Since birth, we were never made aware of what to expect or how to treat the birthmark (to moisturise or not, to protect from sun or not… ect) every doctor we saw said ‘oh my, I’ve never seen anything like this…. & referred her to someone else….. on 18th may, she was seen by children intensive care for something completely different but at this appointment mum asked the doctors to check her leg condition as the scabs were yellow & sore. Sophia was then referred to Great Ormond Street, birthmark clinic. This is where she should’ve been referred to at birth or at least when it started to drastically change - had she had been seen by specialists who work with birthmarks, doctors who would’ve known the cause of the scabbing, then perhaps the Strep A would’ve been picked up before it turned to sepsis….. two days before she died she was seen by Evalina plastic surgery team, mum was told that the condition was ‘dry skin’ although it was only in some spots, it was yellow & had got worse by the day since 7th May.

It is denied by the NHS that her leg has been the cause of the Strep, they say they ‘think’ it was in her throat as it is so rare to be in wounds…. Looking at pictures from 7th may to 27th may, you can see the gradual worsening of the scabbing & the serious deteriorating & colour changes….

Such a small baby, loved by so many. Taken way too soon, for no known reason.

Mum and Dad decided on a cremation so they could keep some ashes for jewellery & to keep at home. We’ve now secured a place in a cemetery close to home & want to erect a headstone for her 1st birthday & both want to get wedding rings made from her ashes.

We want to appeal to other mums & dads to seek financial help to go ahead with our plans ASAP. We would also love to raise some extra to donate to the hospitals that treated Sophia on the day as they have her the best treatment, & we would like to help funding sepsis awareness.

Sending love to all x