A mum has shared her heartbreak as her son’s final words were ‘I love you’ before a life-threatening condition, caused by a sore throat, took his ‘soul’ away.
When Kim McFarland’s daughter, Ella, now 22, described her brother’s face as ‘looking funny’ she thought it was simply a bit of innocent sibling bullying.
But, as the 47-year-old looked over at her son, James, now 18, she went into complete shock.
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His face had fallen on one side, similar to that of a stroke, and he wasn’t responding.
James’ condition only worsened, to the point he was no longer able to speak and each day was being treated as ‘touch-and-go’ until they figured out the cause – a sore throat.
Now, he suffers from regular seizures and has to use a feeding tube.
“I remember seeing him lying in the hospital bed wondering what on Earth went wrong,” the dinner lady, from Dorset, told Need To Know.
“He had just been playing with his older sister in the garden; and then, suddenly, his playful nature was gone.
“Now, I care for him around-the-clock with each day spent worrying if it’ll be his last.
“I never thought a sore throat, which turned into an infection, would lead to this.”
James was only two at the time when the ordeal began.
Kim described him as looking “vacantly” at them before he was rushed to hospital.
While there, he began vomiting and the parents, including Mark, 43, were told their little boy was “alive, but in a serious condition”.
He was placed into intensive care and connected to multiple tubes pumping antibiotics into his system in a bid to keep him alive.
She said: “It was heartbreaking.
“The next morning, though, he was playing with his teddy like nothing had happened.
“It was diagnosed as a febrile seizure, caused by a high temperature.
“But as they said that, his eyes rolled back into his head and he began shaking violently.
“He had terrifying hallucinations and would scream and shout in such a distressing way.
“Watching your child go through that and not being able to comfort them is something no parent can prepare for.
“Over the next few weeks, he kept suffering seizures – and doctors didn’t know why.
“Until they tested his spinal fluid.”
James was diagnosed with encephalitis in September 2010.
The condition causes the brain to become swollen and is often caused by either an infection spreading to the brain, a problem with the immune system or, sometimes, via a tick bite.
The last words he said were: “I love you, mummy”.
Kim added: “I don’t think he recognises us anymore.
“He couldn’t walk or talk after medication caused a severe reaction, too.
“He came home a totally different child.
“James has had physiotherapy to learn how to walk again; but it’s still a daily challenge.
“It’s been so hard on the whole family, as we can’t understand where that cheeky boy has gone.
“Now, he has behavioural issues and uses a feeding tube.
“Although we grieve the son we lost, we still love him so much.
“I still hold onto his last words to me.
“And, despite everything, I hope that one day I’ll hear him say it again.”
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