A teenager is reportedly fighting for his life after “testing positive for swine flu”.
Robert Brennan, 15, was rushed to Leighton hospital on Christmas Day morning with a suspected kidney infection.
Doctors later made the diagnosis, along with sepsis and pneumonia, placed him into a medically induced coma and transferred him to Alder Hey Children’s hospital, where he remains in a critical state.
Robert’s mother, Mel Brennan, is maintaining a bedside vigil at the Liverpool hospital.
The 40-year-old said her son is on “on a machine fighting for his life” and “will have brain damage if he pulls through”, Stoke-on-Trent Live reported.
“He has small bleeds on the brain as the infection is extremely severe and has spread,” she added.
Following results from a CT scan, Brennan yesterday confirmed that the bleeds have not worsened but the test confirmed that there is damage to the brain.
She added that his lung x-rays reflected improvements and he has chest movement when having physio, describing these developments as “positive, baby steps”.
Members of the family’s Alsager community have launched a crowdfunding campaign to help with the family’s expenses, which has already raised more than £3,000.
Carrie Dempsey, the organiser, said: “An Alsager family that a lot of people know and love are going through a very bad time.
“Their son Robert was rushed in to hospital on Christmas morning and is now in a coma at Alder Hey hospital with sepsis, severe pneumonia and swine flu.
“So many people want to help but not sure how so I thought I would do this (...) to help them with money for bills, food, petrol etc.”
Another family friend, Lorraine Standring, started a Support Robert Brennan’s Family Facebook group.
The mother-of-three said: “We’re trying to fundraise like mad for the family because we’ve now been told that when he comes around there will be some brain damage.
“It got to the point at one stage where we thought he might not make it through the night. We want to support them with the costs.”
Supermarket giant Tesco also donated a hamper to the Brennan family.
Robert’s mother said she had been through “a rollercoaster of emotions”.
“No parent should ever have to be told to prepare for the worst when it comes to their children. It’s very scary that this has just come from a simple cold,” she told Stoke-on-Trent Live.
Alsager School pupil Robert first went to bed with a cold on Friday, December 21 after completing a work placement at Crewe’s South Cheshire College, it was reported.
Brennan said: “I gave him cold and flu tablets and by the Saturday and the Sunday he had started with back pain.
“By Christmas Eve night his breathing was slowly becoming rapid and by Christmas morning I knew he wasn’t right and an ambulance took him to Leighton Hospital with a suspected kidney infection.
“He was quickly diagnosed with severe pneumonia and sepsis, put in a medically-induced coma and it was felt he would have better care at Alder Hey.
“We arrived at Alder Hey at 7.45pm on Christmas Day and he was put onto the critical care unit where he also tested positive for swine flu.”
To support the fundraising effort, click here.