A mum is warning parents to ‘trust their gut’ after thinking her six-year-old daughter was just tired from playing – only to discover she was having a stroke.
Holly Atkins took her daughter Ottilie Atkins to a soft play in Hemel Hempstead town centre on October 1h and after 30 minutes of running around the schoolgirl complained about feeling sick and dizzy. Assuming the outburst of energy had simply exhausted Ottilie, the stay-at-home mum wrapped up her shopping trip early and took her home.
But the 34-year-old became concerned hours later when she noticed her daughter was suffering with double vision and her eyes ‘weren’t working in unison’ so took her to hospital. After undergoing a barrage of tests stunned Holly, who’s married to 36-year-old Phil Atkins, was told that little Ottilie had suffered a stroke.
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Doctors explained a previous case of chickenpox 18 months earlier had ‘reactivated’ in Ottilie’s system, causing swelling to her brain that triggered the stroke. Although Ottilie’s eyesight is still affected, she’s now home and making a good recovery. The mum-of-three is sharing her daughter’s ordeal so people know to look out for the tell-tale stroke signs and get medical help straight away.
6-year-old Ottilie Atkins in hospital after having a stroke -Credit:Kennedy News and Media
Holly, from Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, said: “We were out shopping just in our local town centre. She’s got no real history of any health conditions, she’s always been generally very healthy.
“She came out of a really small soft play, it was a tiny little thing, just her and her sister bouncing around. She was very pale and was saying ‘I feel really dizzy’.
“She had a clammy feeling to her like she was sweaty and cold. I thought maybe she’d been running around too much, maybe she’d exhausted herself, and just got a bit hot because it’s inside.
“She sat down and had some sandwiches. Her colour started to come back but she kept saying ‘I still feel really dizzy’. I said ‘okay, we’re going to be going home soon so I’ll take you and we’ll leave Daddy and your sisters’.
“As I was walking along with her I felt like her balance was off.
After returning home, Ottilie watched a film before she started complaining of double vision.
Holly said: “Then she said ‘Mummy I’ve got double vision, I can see things twice’. When I looked at her I felt like she wasn’t looking all the way forward. She tried to blink and change the way she was looking.”
6-year-old Ottilie Atkins -Credit:Kennedy News and Media
Later that evening Holly realised something was amiss as Ottilie’s vision was deemed ‘great’ by an optician the week before, so she took her to hospital.
Holly said: ” I said [to Phill] ‘there’s something not right, look at her eyes’. They weren’t working in unison. She was looking forward with one eye and it looked like the other eye was almost rolling around freely, it was really horrible to see.
“The week prior to that, just a complete coincidence, I took her for an eye test because she was due one. The optician said to me ‘she’s got great vision, nothing wrong with her eyes.’ I then saw this and thought ‘what’s happened in the space of a week?’.”
Holly took Ottilie to Watford General Hospital’s A&E department where she underwent an eye test, CT scan, blood tests and two MRI scans. But on Thursday 17 October, four days after she was admitted to the children’s ward, Holly was stunned when a consultant said Ottilie had suffered a stroke.
Holly said: “The consultant said the word ‘stroke’ and she explained it, but at that point I couldn’t really quite take in what she was saying. “All I heard was the word ‘stroke’ and I thought I misheard what she’d said. My mum was with me and I remember looking and thinking ‘does she have the same expression on my face?’.
“Once the consultant had finished explaining I said ‘sorry can I just clarify, did you say she had a stroke?’ because I couldn’t believe what she was saying. She did say it was very rare. She said was unlucky to have had a stroke but she was lucky that the severity hasn’t been as bad as what it could have been.
“Her issues have been with her vision and potentially with her balance but other than that she has generally been quite well.”
6-year-old Ottilie Atkins in hospital after having a stroke -Credit:Kennedy News and Media
The youngster stayed in hospital for three weeks to receive medication when doctors revealed the stroke was brought on by chicken pox she’d had 18 months ago.
Holly said: “It’s a long time. Luckily at some points she was able to go home and we had to go back but because of the timings we had to be on the ward every night for her to be able to receive her medication. They said it was chicken pox.
“For some reason it reactivated in her system and caused the blood vessels in her brain to swell, which meant that blood couldn’t get through and that’s what caused the stroke.”
The mum admits she’s grateful she took Ottilie to the hospital as quickly as she did as she’s now making a smooth recovery with regular medication.
Holly said: “I’m very grateful I took her to the hospital and got her checked out. Her eyesight is still affected. It’s gradually made improvements but we’ve never known at what point it could potentially stop improving or if it will fully improve.
“She’s still got double vision when she looks out towards the right. Now she copes by moving her head a lot more to counteract the double vision.
“Doctors said children’s brains can just sort of rewire, which is how she’s made a really amazing improvement in a matter of weeks. If it was an adult it wouldn’t quite be the same.”
34-year-old Holly Atkins’ GoFundMe page -Credit:Kennedy News and Media
Holly is now encouraging parents to ‘follow their gut’ and get their children checked out if they start suffering from unusual symptoms.
She also wants to spread awareness of the ‘BE FAST’ NHS campaign, which stands for ‘balance, eyes, face, arms, speech and time’ that hopes to diagnose and treat stroke patients quicker.
Holly said: “My advice would be to follow your gut. When I saw that her eyes weren’t working in unison I thought ‘there’s something not right here’ and I just went and sought help.
“As parents we always want to help our children but sometimes life is busy and there are waiting lists for A&E. Never let that deter you. The doctors are the professionals, seek their help.”
Holly is now running 31km during December to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital children’s charity that helped Ottilie.
Holly said: “It’s really lovely to be doing something that I feel like I’m giving something back. This is my way of trying to do something to show how thankful I am to them.”
To make a donation, visit: https://www.gofundme.com/f/im-running-31km-in-december-for-gosh-q2a4p