‘She was the love of our lives’: Girl, 2, dies from Strep As

A Brisbane family has been rocked by the sudden death of their two-year-old daughter from Strep A, with her father telling of the heartbreaking last time he saw her alive.

Nicole Williams was diagnosed with the common flu.

A Brisbane family has been rocked by the sudden death of the “love of their lives”, two-year-old Nicole Williams after she contracted Strep A.

Paul Williams has shared his grief after suffering “a parent’s worst nightmare”, after the toddler tested positive for influenza but the Strep A diagnosis was missed.

The devastated dad revealed his final words to Nicole were, “you should be fine”, before she went into cardiac arrest and tragically died with Streptococcus A and sepsis three days later.

Now the family want to warn others of the virus which is circulating in Queensland, to ensure another family doesn’t have to suffer the same loss.

Nicole Williams with parents Paul and Olga.

Pictures: Supplied

Paul and Olga Williams took their daughter to the GP when she had a slight temperature on February 21. Mr Williams said they asked for antibiotics, but their GP said “antibiotics were unnecessary”, diagnosing the two-year-old with a viral infection.

But the next day when Nicole’s condition worsened the couple rushed her to the Queensland Children’s Hospital.

“Her red skin changed to more blotchy … very pale, she started vomiting and experienced diarrhoea” Mr Williams said.

“So I jumped in the car and drove to Queensland Children’s Hospital. Once I got there I realised her condition had worsened considerably and she couldn’t stand on her own.”

Upon arrival at the hospital, Nicole was fitted with three different oxygen masks, however none could increase her low oxygen saturation levels, and she was diagnosed with pneumonia before going into cardiac arrest.

“She suffered a cardiac arrest at that point and was in CPR for 41 minutes before the surgeon hooked up the ECMO machine,” Mr Williams said.

Treatment continued until Nicole’s death on Saturday February 25, from septic shock and strep A.

Nicole Williams died from Strep A.

Pictures: Supplied

“They asked me to stay in a family room as they intubated her,” he said.

“That moment is going to haunt me for the rest of my life, but she was conscious and I said to her just before I left her, she should be fine.

“I said, I’ll be right back in a minute and that was a lie … that was the last time I saw her conscious.”

He said he and his wife are struggling to come to terms with the death of their daughter.

“It’s very hard now, like what’s the meaning of life?, he said

“It’s very hard when you come home to an empty house, a quiet house, no noise.”

Nicole was described by her loved ones as being “just a vibrant little girl who loved life”.

“She was an IVF baby, so we tried pretty hard for her. She was our first child, our only child,” Mr Williams said.

The Williams family is now sharing their daughter’s story to raise awareness about the dangers of Streptococcus A.

“We were disappointed in our GP, I think too often they see sick kids and fob it off as just another case of the flu/cold/whatever … I encourage parents to ask GPs … ‘could you test for strep A’ and to advocate hard for your children … GPs should be offering the strep A tests.”

In Queensland, there were 403 invasive group A streptococcus (iGAS) notifications in 2022, roughly a 26 per cent increase on the four-year average for the same time period between 2018-21, a Queensland Health spokesman said.

Dr Sonu Haikerwal at her Broadbeach practise. Picture: Tertius Pickard

Principal General Practitioner at the Haan Health Medical Centre, Dr Sonu Haikerwal, said she’s seen a spike in Strep A cases in her Gold Coast practice.

“Generally speaking, we’re seeing more. In my practice, we have seen a bit of increase in strep A,” she said.

“Strep is a bacteria that can cause throat infection, but the unique thing about strep A is that it can cause some serious infections as well.”

A GoFund Me has been established to help the family with expenses during this difficult time https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-memorialise-nicoles-life

Originally published as ‘She was the love of our lives’: Girl, 2, dies from Strep As