A “devastated” mother has said her three-year-old may never walk, talk or eat on her own again after a virus likened to a common cold left her with lifelong brain damage . Naomi Wall, 29, from Essex , said her three-year-old daughter, Daisy-Rae Reid, “loved her food” and “loved running around”, but in April this year she suddenly started vomiting and struggled to stay awake – which Naomi initially thought was a sickness bug. The mother-of-three, who is now Daisy’s full-time carer along with her partner, 36-year-old plasterer Matthew Reid, decided to take their daughter to hospital after she presented with “weakness” and “tremors” on her left side – but they were initially sent home with antibiotics as doctors suspected tonsillitis.
After Daisy’s condition worsened and she struggled to retain consciousness, Naomi called an ambulance and her daughter was taken to hospital again, where a CT scan revealed she had encephalitis – swelling and inflammation on her brain caused by an infection – so she was blue-lighted to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (Gosh). Further tests revealed Daisy had a weakened immune system and had caught an unidentified virus, that doctors likened to a common cold, which had in turn attacked her brain. The virus left her with a brain injury which has resulted in brain damage and dystonia – the name for uncontrolled and sometimes painful muscle movements which can be a lifelong issue.
After being discharged from h.