Reply To: Gee thanks, anti-vaxxers

Frum The Sun:

TRAGIC TWIST Mum Imogen Petrak who died hours after giving birth may have caught deadly ear infection from her unvaccinated toddler

Heartbreaking image shows Australian mum Imogen Petrak’s son giving her a kiss before she died in the hospital
By Maryse Godden
30th July 2017, 1:37 pm
Updated: 30th July 2017, 3:33 pm

AN AUSTRALIAN mum who died after giving birth may have caught a deadly disease from her own unvaccinated toddler.

Imogen Petrak, from the Gold Coast, was 36 weeks pregnant when she was rushed to hospital on July 14 with severe swelling of her brain after complaining of an ear infection.

Mother Imogen Petrak is given a ‘final kiss goodbye’ by her son JB after she becoming critically ill through an ear infection

The 35-year-old delivered her daughter Eleanor by an emergency C Section – four weeks premature – but died from severe swelling of her brain.

Blood tests confirmed she died from pneumococcal meningitis, The Daily Telegraph reported.

It is believed her 17-month old son JB, who was not vaccinated, was also unwell in the days leading up to her death – and may have passed on the deadly disease.

The vaccine for the pneumococcal infection is on the National Immunisation Program Schedule and should be given to babies at two, four and six months.

Baby Eleanor was released from hospital at eight days old. Her father John told Gold Coast Bulletin: “Imogen’s biggest dream was to see our daughter and she didn’t get to do that.

An online GoFundMe page was set up by her friend Renee, who runs a local playgroup which is attended by JB.

The campaign, which is aiming to raise the equivalent of £60,000, has already raised more than £40,000 to support Imogen’s husband John and pay for funeral costs.

An image on the page captures her other child, 17-month-old JB, kissing her in hospital in the final moments of her life.

It reads: “Imogen was loved by all that crossed her path, she had the biggest heart and sweetest loving spirit, an incredible selfless mother and cherished wife.

“Eleanor is doing well but her mummy Imogen suffering catastrophic brain damage only hours later tragically passed away.

“Her husband John is now left a widower with their two babies, 17 month old JB and new prem baby Eleanor.