Mum and son thank hospital

11:50am Sunday 24th August 2008

IT was the nightmare that every mother dreads. But for Hannah Barnes, it was one she had to face alone.

A single mum, Hannah had twice taken her young son Joseph to the out-of-hours surgery at Hereford County Hospital on Easter Sunday, where she was told he was suffering from a virus but that there was nothing seriously wrong with him.

Then, her father took him to her GP surgery on the following Tuesday, only to be given the same advice.

But when, on the Thursday, her son become increasingly ill and she ‘carried him’ into her GP surgery for a second time and demanded action, the seriousness of his illness became apparent.

Within minutes, Joseph was taken by ambulance to Hereford County Hospital and admitted on the children’s ward. After tests and a lumbar puncture, doctors diagnosed meningitis.

But it was not meningitis of the kind that brings a rash, it was meningitis in her young son’s ear and, because of the delay, she was told he had a 20% chance of survival.

The youngster was transferred to Birmingham Children’s Hospital and, within hours of his arrival there, underwent an operation which was to save his life.

Five months later and now on the road to recovery, Joseph is regaining weight and getting back to his boisterous self at the family home in Deerfold, Redhill, Hereford.

But as a way of saying thanks to the Birmingham hospital, Hannah, deputy manager of Hereford’s newly refurbished Hungry Horse in Grandstand Road, is raising cash for the hospital by way of a special balloon race.

Cash raised from the balloons will be given as a gift to the Birmingham hospital and the winner of the balloon that travels the furthest will be offered two free meals.

The Hungry Horse which re-opened on Monday after the refurbishment, plans to hold regular charity events in the future.

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