This little girl died because Meningitis B vaccines aren’t available for all children on the NHS

Amy Willis

Faye before the infection stuck and when she was in hospital (Picture: FightingforFaye/Meningitis Now)

These heart-breaking pictures show a little girl called Faye desperately fighting for her life.
The two-year-old was taken to hospital with a rash on her forehead just two weeks ago, but her condition quickly deteriorated.
Doctors hoped she might recover but she was suffering from a deadly Meningitis B infection.
Her story has already inspired nearly 250,000 people to sign a petition to make the vaccine available to all children on the NHS, after a Facebook post by paediatric nurse Aimee Beesley.

Her mother Jenny told charity Meningitis Now: ‘Faye was taken to A&E with a rash on her forehead. She was then transferred by South [Themes] Retrieval Service to Evelina Children’s Hospital, where her heart stopped in the ambulance.
‘They revived her and spent hours working on stabilising her. We were given a one per cent survival chance but she proved them wrong and carried on fighting.

‘After a few days she seemed to have turned a corner, but the sepsis started to affect her more and the decision of limb removal was made. The extent of removal was massive, full leg amputation and one arm and plastic surgery.
‘She was getting tired, her little body consumed by meningitis and sepsis (blood poisoning). We had to make the decision, a massive operation and she may die or we let her go peacefully on her own accord.
‘We decided the latter and then watched our little girl slip away. At 9pm on February 14th she finally fell asleep forever. All this in only 11 days.’

One of the posters being used to raise awareness

Jenny discovered that there is a Meningitis B vaccine – but because Faye was born before May 2015 she was not entitled to it on the NHS.
‘All children are at risk from this terrible infection, yet the Government plan to only vaccinate 2 to 5-month-olds,’ she said.
‘There needs to be a rollout programme to vaccinate all children, at least up to age 11. Meningococcal infections can be very serious, causing meningitis, septicaemia and death.’
 

Instead mothers must pay around £300 for two injections privately, with clinics sometimes more than an hour’s drive away. Aimee Beesley, who alongside other mothers has started campaign group #FightingforFaye to raise awareness, told Metro.co.uk how difficult it was to organise for her own son to have the vaccine.
‘I have just booked my son in to have it done at a private clinic, this particular clinic is charging £150 per vaccine and my son will need two. It varies from clinic to clinic, but there is a national shortage at the moment, so only very few clinics are offering the vaccine. I am traveling an hour and half to the closest clinic to me that currently has stock to get my son vaccinated
‘With the cost of this vaccine being so high, I can imagine it is very hard for some parents to pay for this, especially those with more than one child.’
A petition has now been started calling for this vaccine to be given to all children, not just newborn babies.
Many people are signing it in the hope that what happened to Faye will never happen again.
Here is the petition.

Meningitis B

Meningitis B is the most common strain of bacterial Meningitis in the UK, which along with septicaemia that it causes, is the leading infectious cause of death for children under five.
Six per cent of people who contract Meningitis B will die from it. Many of those who survive suffer terrible permanent disability such as amputation, brain damage and epilepsy.
If you are born before May 2015, vaccines are only available through private clinics and prices start from £95 a dose. Most children need several doses.
Source: #FightingforFaye and Meningitis Now