Amazing Grace recovers as life support turned off

A BABY suffering from “incurable” meningitis made a miraculous recovery after her life-support machine was switched off, her mother revealed yesterday.

Grace Vincent was just six weeks when she was struck down with a rare form of the brain disease and rushed to hospital.

The girl spent four days in intensive care before her family, from Newcastle, took the agonising decision to switch off the equipment sustaining her tiny heart.

But her parents were stunned when, freed from the tubes, the tiny girl, now nicknamed “Amazing Grace”, began to breathe tentatively on her own.

She is now on her way to recovery and her senses of smell and touch and her vocal ability are returning.

Her loved ones know there could still be lasting damage from the bacterial infection Strep B which kills one in eight affected youngsters.

Her mother Emily Ashurst, 26, said Grace was born without complications on April 3.

Ashurst, a hospital worker at Newcastle General, said yesterday: “Grace was born normally and was a very happy little girl.”

But on May 16 she was rushed to the General after her mother found her distressed, with the tell-tale purple patches on her skin.

She said: “She was all pale and blotchy, making moaning sounds. I picked her up and took her to the changing table. Her nappy was thick with diarrhoea.”

Doctors knew immediately her condition was serious and she was diagnosed with an infection of late-onset Strep B (or CBS). The bacteria is present in nearly quarter of women of childbearing age and can be passed on to babies during labour.

It can kill within hours but is not routinely screened for, something Ashurst wants to see changed.

She continued: “Within hours she got poorly. We watched her stop breathing, we watched them put an oxygen mask on her face. There were 15 doctors in the room at one point.

“The machines were going, there were tubes put inside her, her eyes were taped up. It was disgusting. It was heart-breaking. I didn’t think it was real.

“I started to blame myself, as I now know that 35% of women carry the bacteria. But nine out of 10 women have never heard of it.”

Four days later scans showed that Grace had suffered “catastrophic brain damage”.

“It was a bleak picture,” Ashurst said. “The doctors said they’d never seen a girl as poorly as Grace. We came to the decision to switch off the machine on Wednesday. She was baptised on the Tuesday and all the family came to say goodbye.

“Pete and I wanted to say goodbye on our own and we were told she might gasp for air before she died. They put her in my arms before they disconnected her. We had to say when we were ready for them to take the tube out of her nose. We held her in our arms and waited for her last breath.”

But that moment never came. By 4am she was still breathing and giving her mother feeding signals. She willingly took her bottle and fed, confounding medical staff.

Ms Ashurst said: “We didn’t know what to say or do. I was angry. We had prepared ourselves for the inevitable and had arranged to see a bereavement officer. It was like living in limbo.”

Two weeks ago she was transferred to North Tyneside hospital where doctors still expected her to die, as her heart rate was fluctuating wildly.

But yesterday she was discharged to her family’s continued amazement and joy.

Ashurst said: “Her breathing has stabilised, showing that her brain stem is not damaged. Her heart rate has also stabilised. She takes her bottle well. She coos back at you, and she started crying three days ago which is a good sign.

“We thought we’d never hear that again.”