By Kelly-Ann Woodland & Jenness Mitchell

The grieving parents of a two-year-old girl who died from sepsis – which the family mistook for a winter bug – have launched a campaign to raise awareness of the killer condition.

Toddler Eliza Woods died on Saturday after contracting sepsis from the bacterium group A streptococcus.

A post-mortem revealed she contracted the bug from a common infection.

Parents Mike and Jodie told STV News that they want Eliza to be remembered as a “ball of energy” who loved to sing and dance.

In the wake of her death they will do everything they can to save other families from having to go through similar heartbreak.

Mrs Woods said: “There has to be some meaning to her life.

“Two years and nine months is not enough. It has to mean something, and if it means that she saves other families from this, then that’s worth it.

“Because you don’t want to go through this – you don’t want to sit there for six-and-a-half hours like I did with her in my arms, begging her to take a breath.

“We will do whatever we can until the day we die to raise awareness of sepsis so that no other family has to go through this.”

Mr and Mrs Woods, who have three other children, noticed Eliza’s high temperature last Thursday.

In the same week, their four and six-year-old had been off school sick and they believed Eliza had caught the same bug so treated her with paracetamol.

The youngster’s temperature was kept under control with medication and she appeared to be recovering.

Just hours before her death, she was playing with Lego at the family home in Rhu, Helensburgh.

After spotting a mottling on Eliza’s skin, her parents took her to Vale of Leven Hospital in West Dunbartonshire, but tragically she could not be saved.

Mr Woods said: “Obviously, everyone’s on the lookout for symptoms of meningitis, so we did the glass test.

“The rash didn’t dissipate and so she was rushed to hospital.

“From initial signs that this was something more than just a temperature, she was dead within two hours.”

Speaking about the mottling, he added: “It turned out to be her organs failing.

“By the time we saw that, it was already too late.”

Mr and Mrs Woods, who run baby sensory classes, said Eliza’s death is hard to take as she contracted the killer condition from a common bug.

Mr Woods said: “In some ways it makes it harder.”

Mrs Woods added: “When it comes back that it was just a very bad version of an infection that she had – a chest infection or a sore throat – you kind of feel as if you missed something and should have taken her to a doctor beforehand.

“But she had nothing but a bit of a temperature and it went away.

“She was drinking, she was eating. She didn’t vomit.

“She didn’t have – there’s a list a mile-long of things for sepsis – she didn’t have any of it until that last little bit and in the time it took to get from her to the Vale of Leven she died, it just took over.”

With the signs of sepsis difficult to spot, the couple have posted a video online to warn other parents of the life-threatening condition.

Mr Woods said: “The signs of sepsis are difficult to spot.

“You need to seek medical attention early. The earlier it’s caught, the more chance you’re going to get a favourable outcome.”

Mrs Woods added: “We didn’t think sepsis, because we hadn’t heard about it in ages.

“If someone else had spoken out – and put something up on Facebook like they do when it all goes viral – maybe we’d have thought it.

“Whether it would have changed the outcome, probably not given what the doctors have said, but we may have thought it – and we just didn’t think to think sepsis.”

Sepsis symptoms in children under five

Go straight to A&E or call 999 if your child has any of these symptoms:

  • Looks mottled, bluish or pale.
  • Is very lethargic or difficult to wake.
  • Feels abnormally cold to touch.
  • Is breathing very fast.
  • Has a rash that does not fade when you press it.
  • Has a fit or convulsion.

If your child has any of the symptoms listed below, is getting worse or is sicker than you'd expect (even if their temperature falls), trust your instincts and seek medical advice urgently from NHS 111.

Temperature:

  • Temperature over 38C in babies under three months.
  • Temperature over 39C in babies aged three to six months.
  • Any high temperature in a child who cannot be encouraged to show interest in anything.
  • Low temperature (below 36C – check three times in a ten-minute period).

Breathing:

  • Finding it much harder to breathe than normal – looks like hard work.
  • Making "grunting" noises with every breath.
  • Can't say more than a few words at once (for older children who normally talk).
  • Breathing that obviously "pauses".

Toilet/Nappies:

  • Not passed urine or had a wet nappy for 12 hours.

Eating and drinking:

  • New baby under one-month-old with no interest in feeding.
  • Not drinking for more than eight hours (when awake).
  • Bile-stained (green), bloody or black vomit/sick.

Activity and body:

  • Soft spot on a baby's head is bulging.
  • Eyes look "sunken".
  • Child cannot be encouraged to show interest in anything.
  • Baby is floppy.
  • Weak, "whining" or continuous crying in a younger child.
  • Older child who's confused.
  • Not responding or very irritable.
  • Stiff neck, especially when trying to look up and down.

The UK Sepsis Trust

The UK Sepsis Trust exists to fight the life-threatening condition, stop preventable deaths and support those affected by sepsis.

For more information, go to sepsistrust.org or call 0800 389 6255.