When Charlie, 12, survived a devastating car crash, his mother, Rose Henderson, thought the worst was behind them. But she had no idea that a severe infection that her child would contract in the hospital would soon put his life at risk all over again.
The Day Everything Changed
It started like any other Wednesday. Rose Henderson was picking up her 12-year-old son, Charlie, from school. It was indeed a joyous day for the child, as he had got a new mobile phone after his old one had fallen into water. After picking Charlie up, she drove home along a four-lane highway. But that was when their car — and their lives — were upended. A car hit them head-on at 60 miles per hour. A second vehicle struck them from behind, spinning their car 180 degrees before they slammed into the guardrail. Tragically, the other drivers did not survive. But Charlie did.
"It was a big accident. And, unbeknownst to me until I read the police report, a car hit us from behind, we did a 180, and we slammed into the side of the guardrail," Henderson told People. The injuries were severe. The pre-teen had a dislocated hip, a severely lacerated liver, punctured intestines and stomach, and a severed pancreas. After six hours of emergency surgery at Phoenix Children's Hospital, Charlie was alive. His mother was told he would need two weeks to recover. "We were all in the waiting room, and then the doctor came out and told us that, 'OK, he's out of surgery. Now it's a waiting game to see if it takes, if it's successful.' And so they told us that his recovery time would be two weeks in the hospital, and then we would be able to go home," the mother recalled. No one could have predicted what came next.
Recovery and Crisis
During the hospital stay, the child developed profuse diarrhoea and vomiting. Henderson initially thought it was a side effect of his surgeries. "It was so bad he defecated himself in bed because he couldn't get out in time. And then I remember we went to sleep and, at 3:00 in the morning, a nurse came in and she was covered in PPE, and she woke me up, and I said, 'Oh, this isn't good.'" Then came the devastating news. Charlie had contracted Clostridioides difficile — C. diff. C. diff is a bacterium that causes an infection of the colon, according to the Mayo Clinic. The symptoms can range from diarrhoea to life-threatening damage to the colon.
Henderson recalled that she was unaware of what the infection was, and the hospital gave little information. "So I had to start Googling it and figuring it out, and nobody gave me any information after that. It was just, 'Hey, he has C. diff,' and away they went. But ultimately, we ended up staying in the hospital for over 30 days." The child became weak and was not allowed to eat or drink anything for weeks because of the nature of his injuries. The mother recalls the time when the symptoms worsened and the child was worried about his life.
"One time, he was just lying on me, and he asked me, 'Mum, am I dying?' And as a mum, you have to stay strong for your kids. And so automatically I told him, I said, 'No, you're not. You're going to be fine.' But in my mind, I was like, 'Am I watching my son die?'" she said.
After a 10-day course of antibiotics, Charlie was discharged from the hospital. But the real nightmare was far from over. Three days after coming home, Charlie relapsed. The C. diff was back, and his colon was now inflamed. He was readmitted.
Lack of Support
The mother had to become a warrior and source information about her child's condition on her own. She felt abandoned by the medical system. Desperate for answers, she turned to the internet, joining C. diff support groups, where she found comfort in other families battling the same infection. She discovered the Peggy Lillis Foundation, a resource that proved more helpful than her own doctors had been.
"I don't feel like [the doctors] gave me all the information that I needed. It's Peggy Lillis. I get to talk to everybody who's ever had it, and they tell me their story, and they said, 'This is what worked for us, and this is how we had to advocate for ourselves,' and I think that's where the majority of our support and information came from," she told the outlet.
Today, Charlie's battle is far from over. He has experienced multiple C. diff recurrences, putting him at higher risk for future infections. He needs hip surgery from the original accident — surgery he delayed because last summer was consumed by hospitalisation.
"It's not a matter of if Charlie will get C. diff again, it's a matter of when, and how we are proactive and how we handle it, but I'm satisfied that's something he's going to have to live with for the rest of his life," the mother added.
