‘We called an ambulance for my 4mo - the longer we waited, the sicker she got’

“To watch her little body go through that was just a horrendous thing to see,” the NSW mum-of-three said. 

It was December 2020, only two days before Christmas and deep in the pandemic, when Beck’s four-month-old daughter Aaliyah started feeling poorly. 

She was cranky and had a creeping temperature, so the mum-of-three kept close watch during the day. 

But it wasn’t long after a feed that the 4mo began having seizures.

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It was only two days before Christmas when Aaliyah started feeling ill. Picture: 7News

“I’m going to have to do something more”

Beck's husband was at work, and Beck started to panic, placing a damp tea towel on her daughter’s forehead. 

Living in Tocumwal, a small rural town on the bank of the Murray River in NSW, Beck knew that an ambulance was at least 15 minutes away, so she didn’t have many options. 

“I just looked at her and thought, ‘I’m going to have to do something more,’” she recalled to 7News. 

She called an ambulance, despite knowing the wait would be “ages.” 

Beck waited for the paramedics to arrive, watching out the window for the flashing lights, but she saw nothing. 

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With no time to spare, she grabbed her two sons and daughter, ready to pile them into the car. 

But the moment she stepped outside, Aaliyah’s skin turned purple and she stopped breathing. 

“To watch her little body go through that was just a horrendous thing to see,” Beck recalled. 

The NSW mum secured her two boys in the backseat and cradled her baby she sped to the hospital, the 4mo having continuous seizures upon arrival. 

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The 4mo was flown to Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne and placed in an induced coma. Picture: 7News

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They were getting more frequent and more intense, the longest they recorded was upwards of seven minutes. 

The doctors quickly administered an anti-seizure medication, but after the first round failed, a different type of medication was flown up from the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. 

Thankfully, the specialist medication worked and Aaliyah’s seizures stopped. 

She was flown down to the Royal Children’s Hospital, where the 4mo was placed in an induced coma; at this point, doctors had no clue what caused the seizures.

Beck and her daughter spent Christmas in hospital before the 4mo was discharged. “We spent four or five days there before we could come home,” Beck said.

Doctors later revealed the 4mo had suffered “some sort of infection.”

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Aaliyah has since fully recovered. Picture: 7News

“I was lucky I got to the hospital when I did”

Aaliyah is now three years old and has fully recovered from the ordeal years earlier, with no long-lasting effects.

Her mum, Beck, recalled a nurse at Tocumwal Hospital telling her it was “lucky I got [to the hospital] when I did.” 

“And that’s the scary thing,” Beck said. “That I am the lucky one.” 

The rural NSW town currently has a population of 2,800, predominantly an “elderly” population, and usually becomes “packed with tourists” during the holidays. 

With the closest ambulance station 15 minutes away, Beck is worried the town is growing faster than the healthcare can manage.

Speaking to 7News, the mum-of-three said she’s growing increasingly concerned about others who may need urgent medical assistance.

“How many are there that aren’t so lucky?”

Originally published as ‘We called an ambulance for my 4mo - the longer we waited, the sicker she got’