A young boy has been left traumatised and missed three months of school because of fits brought on by severe whooping cough. Ellis Golding, from Littlehampton, suffered five or six nightly "episodes" over several months which would make him go floppy, turn his lips blue and make him struggle to breathe. After rushing him to A&E, his mum Georgina was told he would need a referral to a neurologist for suspected epilepsy.
It would later turn out that the six-year-old’s “fits” were a side effect of severe whooping cough, a highly contagious bacterial infection of the lungs and airways. Ellis was very ill with the infection (Image: Georgina Golding / SWNS) After a course of different medications, including codeine and antihistamines, Ellis has been able to recover from his life-threatening throat spasms. But he has been left feeling anxious and panicked every time he gets sick.
Georgina wants to raise awareness of the warning signs of whooping cough in young children, which include bouts of intense coughing, overnight coughing, vomiting and struggling to breathe after a coughing bout. Read more: Bizarre private parking signs appear in free council car park The 33-year-old, who is an admin assistant, said: “Ellis would have multiple episodes every night. He used to go floppy, it was terrifying.
“I want to raise awareness of these symptoms, which have left him with so much trauma.” Ellis’s symptoms started on March 13. He had come home from school with a slight cough, .