Mum claims daughter nearly died from E.coli on Egypt holiday

Ruby Crossley had flown out to Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt with her daughter Paisley Crossley and 22 other family members for a week in the sun on Tuesday, September 3.

After visiting a renowned restaurant in the area on the third day of their vacation, Ruby claims her three-year-old became lethargic and two days later came down with sickness and diarrhoea.

At first, the stay-at-home mum believed her child was suffering from severe sunstroke and let her rest in the hotel - however 14 other members of the party also had the symptoms and one member almost needed to visit hospital.

Paisley was rushed to the A&E department at Telford Royal Hospital (Image: Kennedy News & Media) When Paisley's symptoms worsened upon returning to England, the 28-year-old booked a GP appointment where her tot was mistakenly diagnosed with a viral infection and sent home on September 18.

It was only when Paisley woke up 'bright yellow' and vomiting on September 20 that she rushed her to the A&E department at Telford Royal Hospital - where she was so dehydrated no tears would form when she cried.

Doctors said E.coli had caused kidney failure and rushed to get her on an IV drip and gave her two blood transfusions to save the youngster's life.

According to the NHS, E.coli is usually spread by eating contaminated food or water, or by handling animals and can cause severe vomiting and diarrhoea.

A small number of E.coli sufferers like Paisley then go on to develop a serious condition called haemolytic uraemic syndrome, which can lead to kidney failure and sometimes death and is highest in children under five.

Ruby, from Market Drayton in Shropshire, said: "It was the worst experience of my life and it scared me to go on holiday abroad.

"I am also just scared to go out and eat where we live now too as you can't see E.coli and it is so dangerous.

"Public health has got in touch since and they agree that she has caught this from Egypt because of the rest of the people that were ill."

The day after eating at the restaurant, Ruby says everyone was fine at first and they went to see the camels and went on the buggies in the desert.

However Paisley started showing signs of being drowsy but her mum put it down to the weather and being a bit tired.

On a visit to the dolphins the next day, Paisley began to be sick and Ruby knew something wasn't right but put it down to severe sunstroke until they got back to England and her symptoms worsened.

Ruby said: "I woke up next to her [the next day] and she was bright yellow from head to toe. The whites of her eyes were yellow and she was yellow. It was tea without milk.

"I rang 111 then. She was still vomiting and had diarrhoea and wasn't passing a lot of urine and the colour of her urine was a cola colour.

"I was petrified. I thought I was going to lose her and was going to walk out of the hospital without her because she was so poorly."

Ruby claims after visiting the restaurant for dinner, 14 others also suffered from sickness and diarrhoea but only Paisley was diagnosed with E.coli while the others recovered without going to hospital.  

Paisley was kept in hospital for 10 days before being discharged on Monday, September 30th and is now recovering at home and has to have a check-up blood test every week.

Ruby said: "It got to the point where Paisley's kidneys weren't working and she wasn't passing urine.

"She was so severely dehydrated she was on a drip and giving her oral juice.

"24 hours later, they took the drip off her as her body and face was swelling because her kidneys were not flushing anything. She looked like a balloon.

"Her kidneys were completely shutting down at this point. They took her for a kidney scan and they could see damage.

"She had her first blood transfusion and it went fine but it only worked to a certain degree.

"She then had a couple of good days and started to perk up but then everything failed again. She went from a peachy colour to yellow again.

"[Doctors said] E.coli is what she contracted in Egypt and this has continued and killed all her veins inside her kidneys which has caused her to have kidney failure which has then caused HUS syndrome."

Since Paisley's hospitalisation, Ruby has been in touch with Public Health who she claims have said her daughter contracted E.coli from Egypt but says she has not reached out to the restaurant itself.

She says her daughter has been left with permanent kidney damage as a result of the E.coli.

Ruby said: "Her kidneys are never going to function the way they did before and she could be a lifelong sufferer of kidney damage now. There is no way her kidneys can replace what they have lost.

"She has to go for blood tests every week now and then every month we go to see a specialist to compare all the bloods."

A UK Health Security Agency spokesperson said: "The UKHSA West Midlands Health Protection Team (HPT) received a notification from a hospital in Shropshire about an individual with E. coli O157.

"The family were given advice on hygiene to prevent spread of infection, including the importance of effective handwashing with soap and warm water before eating/preparing food and after going to the toilet, washing any soiled clothes or bedding at 60oC, and cleaning any surfaces and areas where a bout of illness had occurred with a bleach-based product.

"Exclusion advice was also given, explaining that anyone with symptoms should not return to nursery/school/work until 48 hours clear of symptoms."

The restaurant was contacted repeatedly for comment but failed to respond.