Brisbane mum says six-month-old baby had stomach flu – dead the next day

A mother was left devastated after her six-month-old baby died of meningitis, a day after she was rushed to hospital and told it was just a stomach flu.

Doctors told Brisbane mother Carly Goya her six-month-old daughter Mabel’s illness was due to a stomach flu after rushing her to Queensland Children’s Hospital in September 2021.

But just a day later, baby Mabel didn’t wake up after falling asleep in her dad’s arms.

Ms Goya told Daily Mail Australia that more must be done ‘to keep meningitis top of mind among all healthcare professionals, especially in emergency departments’.

Mrs Goya later discovered that her daughter had developed meningitis after contracting a strain of pneumococcal disease not covered by current vaccinations.

Meningitis is an infection of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord and can be caused by an infection with bacteria, viruses or fungi.

It is a serious disease that requires urgent treatment.

“She has had all her routine vaccinations… which leads you to believe that your child is protected against life-threatening diseases,” Ms Goya said..

One night in September 2021, Ms Goya said Mabel woke up in the middle of the night and started vomiting.

“She felt very unwell, was vomiting and had a fever,” Ms Goya said.

“The next day she still wasn’t great, and we were debating whether or not to go to the hospital.”

The family decided to take their baby to the emergency department, where they were helped quickly.

“She was still not keeping anything down and she still had a fever,” Ms. Goya said.

“So they assumed she had a urinary tract infection or gastrointestinal infection.”

The little girl was kept in the hospital overnight and tested for a urinary tract infection.

Her mother said Mabel was “incredibly restless,” even though her observations indicated everything was normal.

“We were in a position where you think you’re in the best possible place for her… you think they know what they’re doing,” she said.

“But nothing has escalated.”

Ms. Goya’s husband came to the hospital the next morning so she could go home and take a break.

But Mabel’s condition quickly deteriorated afterward.

“She eventually fell asleep in my husband’s arms, sitting in a hospital chair,” Mrs. Goya said.

“But from that moment on she never opened her eyes again.”

After running some tests, doctors at the hospital determined that Mabel was suffering from vasculitis, which constricts blood flow to the brain, and meningitis.

Ms Goya said doctors told the family their daughter “wasn’t going to be okay.”

After Mabel’s breathing tubes were removed, she continued to breathe on her own for another fifteen hours before she sadly passed away.

“It was just this incredible rapid progression of this disease in such a short time,” Ms. Goya said.

Ms Goya said the hospital underwent a five-month review of Mabel’s care, resulting in a 40-page report and a two-hour meeting, in which the hospital ruled it was ‘not at fault’.

But Mrs Goya believes more could have been done to save her daughter’s life.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Children’s Health Queensland said the investigation did not identify any core deficiencies in the care provided by the hospital.

“Children’s Health Queensland recognizes the impact of Mabel’s death on her family and continues to express our deepest condolences,” the spokesperson said. 7News.

‘Every day, our dedicated teams work tirelessly to provide the best possible outcomes for young patients who are significantly affected by the death of a child in their care.

“We take the sudden and unexpected death of a child very seriously and share a family’s need for answers when it happens.

‘We worked closely with Mabel’s family to thoroughly investigate every step of the care she received and shared the findings and recommendations with them.

‘Children’s Health Queensland is implementing all recommendations from the research.’

After the hospital meeting, Ms. Goya says she came across a similar case in which another child, in the same ICU as their family, died of meningitis.

This prompted Mrs. Goya and her husband to establish the Mabel Olivie Airi Foundation in December 2021, which was established to honor Mabel’s life and push for better awareness among parents in a similar situation.

“For me, it’s an awareness thing… because if I can’t change what hospitals do, what can I do to make parents more aware and know how to advocate for their children,” Ms. Goya said.

“Telling her story won’t bring her back, but if it can prevent this from happening to another family, I will tell her story again and again.”