Kathryn Thomas shares warning to parents about RSV symptoms after daughter Grace rushed to hospital
The RTÉ favourite revealed that her daughter spent three days in Crumlin Children's Hospital after contracting RSV and she recalled that ordeal they went through at the time
by Mikie O'Loughlin · RSVP LiveKathryn Thomas has warned parents to look out for the symptoms of RSV after her youngest daughter Grace was previously rushed to hospital for treatment.
The Rose of Tralee presenter recalled her "terrifying" ordeal where Grace was taken off her for tests at Crumlin Children's Hospital.
The tot, now aged three, was in care for three days.
Read more: Kathryn Thomas on the shock axing of Operation Transformation and emotional Rose of Tralee moments
Sharing her story, Kathryn began: "Everything was going swimmingly, we had everybody around with cuddles and kisses and we were walking Ellie to school.
"At about three and two days I noticed that she was quite congested [with a] big blocked nose. I knew because when I tried to feed her she was pulling herself away from the breast.
"I didn't think anything about it; I thought [it was] a little cold - and because Ellie my eldest wasn't sick, I wasn't too concerned.
"The only thing I knew at that stage as a mother to be panicking about was if the child had a temperature."
Things didn't improve for Grace, so Kathryn took action and she brought the baby to the Emergency Department at Crumlin Children's Hospital. New research shows that only 51% of parents are aware of RSV and understand its risks.
She told The Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk : "The cough started getting worse - very congested, green mucus - she was again not feeding very well.
"I was at the school gate and one of the mothers looked into the buggy and I said, 'I don't want to be clogging up the waiting rooms, it's just a head cold.
"She said, 'If I were you don't be worried about that and off you go.'"
"They took her temperature - I had been taking her temperature - and she had a slightly raised temperature. They basically took her straight in, they did a spinal lumbar puncture on her."
Kathryn wasn't able to be by Grace's side at first - and she ended up in care for three days.
She said: "They wouldn't let me into the room or advised I didn't go in and they just had to check that it wasn't meningitis.
"Within about an hour they were able to say that she had contracted RSV. They had her on a drip, they had a saline mask on her face pretty consistently.
"They put tubes in her nose to kind of try and clear out the mucus. We were in there for three days and the place was full of babies with RSV and I had never heard of it before."
For Kathryn, she wishes that she had acted sooner because it was "the most terrifying thing" as a mother - and everything happened so quickly.
The RTÉ star said: "I look back at photographs of her when we were in the hospital and she's just so tiny and with the tubes in her hands and everything.
"To get a spinal lumbar puncture, I didn't even know what that was.
"They basically took her off me and took her away.
"That all probably happened in 20 minutes, but it was just the most terrifying thing because they're so precious and it was the first time she had been away from me".
RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) is a common virus that causes coughs and colds, particularly in very young children. It is most serious for babies under 1 year of age, children aged 1 to 4 years, children and adults with an underlying lung or heart condition, people with a weakened immune system and adults aged 65 years and older.
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