The mom of an 8-year-old boy has a message for parents this week after her son’s innocent scrape on the wrist turned into something that could have been far more deadly.
Alexandra Ruddy says her youngest son, Ewan, had fallen over while on a trip to the zoo just a week prior to sharing her now-viral Facebook post.
“He took quite a bashing but once we got home I cleaned him up,” she writes.
Ruddy even went as far as calling Ewan’s school during a messy day of “farming” to further ensure he washed his hands and elbows (where the wounds were located) after digging in the soil.
“I tried hard to ensure it was kept clean (hand and elbow),” she says. “He’s an [8-year-old] boy, however.”
The UK-based mom says as the week went on her son’s wounds didn’t look infected, meaning they weren’t gunky or oddly colored. But they had gotten bigger.
That’s when she noticed the red stripe tracking down his vein — both on his wrist from the hand laceration, as well as his elbow. He had also spiked a low-grade fever, but overall, the 8-year-old was his normal self.
Trust Your Gut
Ruddy remembered a similar situation that happened with her friend’s son just two years ago, where the boy had contracted sepsis — a blood infection that can turn deadly fast if left untreated.
It was the weekend and her family was on the way to the beach, but Ruddy knew this couldn’t wait. She took Ewan to an after-hours clinic to get checked out.
