Laura Weaver’s daughter, Alice Mai Rose, tragically passed away from sepsis in December 2023 at just five months old.
Now, Laura is determined to share Alice’s story to raise awareness about the signs of sepsis — something she wishes she had known more about at the time.
Alice was born on July 31st 2023, with some initial health challenges, including breathing problems, pulmonary persistent hypertension, and gastric reflux but remained “happy and healthy”.
“She was a happy, smiley, chatty little baby,” Laura added. “I mean, her smile could light up a room…she was a beautiful little thing.”
On December 14th 2023, Alice developed a cold, prompting Laura to take her to the doctor to check her chest.
Just three days later, Alice was admitted to the local children’s hospital after her condition suddenly worsened – she began wheezing, became pale, and was unusually sleepy.
The doctors diagnosed her with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) – a common virus that causes bronchiolitis, and a lung infection in children that affects the smallest airways in the lungs.
During her hospital stay, Alice remained pale, sleepy, and uninterested in milk. She was discharged but continued to show the same symptoms, along with constipation.
Concerned, Laura called her doctor’s surgery, and Alice was put on a triage list so her mum could have a call with a doctor for around 2pm that day. By 4pm, Alice had an appointment to see the doctor, and when Laura got her into the doctor’s room, Alice was unresponsive.
She was rushed to the resuscitation room, where doctors administered oxygen and attempted to perform CPR while the family waited for an ambulance to arrive.
When they arrived at hospital, doctors continued giving her CPR and oxygen and she sadly had two cardiac arrests, and there was no rhythm in her heart at all. By 6:07pm, Laura “had to tell them to stop” and her only daughter was sadly pronounced dead.
Laura said: “That evening…we were in a lot of shock, just trying to process it all and what’s kind of just happened. I think Glen’s [Laura’s partner] dealt with it differently than me, but we are still trying to work together as a team and support each other.”
Doctors performed tests shortly after Alice passed away, and discovered that she had Strep A, rhinovirus, as well as RSV. But, it was not until February 2024 that Laura received Alice’s post-mortem report, which revealed her cause of death was bronchopneumonia and sepsis due to invasive Strep A.
Laura explained: “We take each day as it comes. My partner and I support each other the best we can, and we have three boys, so we keep busy with them, and just to try and stay as strong as we can, we have good days and bad days.
“We’ve got a very supportive family around us that helps and supports (us). We’ve been to a counsellor, we’ve spoken to different bereavement charities for the children and for ourselves.”
All three of Laura’s sons, now aged six, 12 and 15, are autistic, and Laura found that this meant it was “difficult to explain” Alice’s death to them, but they have all received counselling to help.
Laura has also reached out to the UK Sepsis Trust, speaking to a Support Nurse, is in our bereavement Facebook group with and has spoken to other bereaved parents, which she said has “really helped”.
She now wishes she knew more about sepsis at the time of Alice’s death – she explained: “If I’d have known what sepsis was, if I’d have educated myself, or if the education was there, then I probably would have picked up on the signs quicker and then taken her back to A&E.”
Reflecting on her experience, Laura urges other parents to trust their instincts. She said: “Don’t take no for an answer…it’s very much that saying of ‘mummy knows best’, and when something’s wrong, you go with it, you run with it, until you get the answers that you’re happy with. If I’m not feeling confident enough to speak up or I’m not in the right frame of mind, I will always have another adult with me who can.”
