A mother and father from Wales were plunged into the depths of their worst nightmare last summer after their newborn baby began projectile vomiting out of the blue.
Screaming in agony, Jodie Meats and Lewis Bills' baby boy Elias was rushed to his local medical centre, with him being too young to articulate himself what was wrong.
After meeting with a GP, the Swansea parents were informed it was more than likely that their son was suffering with a severe case of stomach bug.
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He was kept in the medical facility for four days before the couple were told their little boy's extremely common symptoms would pass.
Jodie and Lewis returned Elias home, but after he showed no sign of recovery, their concern only increased as they witnessed how much agony their child was in.
"They said 'it's just a bug, give it 24 hours and he should be fine'," Jodie later told press.
"But he was still constantly retching and within two hours he couldn't sit up or even hold his head.
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Checking in with the GP once again, they were repeated told it can only be a stomach bug, and that the youngster would be fine in a few days.
"My partner asked for a second opinion and while we were waiting, Elias started bleeding from his bottom," the terrified mother recalled.
"He was passing clots. It was like if he was going to the toilet but it was just blood.
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"We thought this isn't normal, what is going on?. At this point we thought the doctor knows what he's doing and he must be right."
Unconvinced by the GP's stomach bug diagnosis, Jodie, Lewis and baby Elias fled to A&E.
"We rung 111 and took him down to hospital," Jodie went on.
"At hospital they kept saying it's probably just a bug, but my partner said 'this isn't a normal bug'. We just knew something wasn't right."
It was only after hospital medics carried out further testing on the tot that they made a horrific discovery, ruling that he'd previously been misdiagnosed.
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An ultrasound scan discovered that the baby's bowels had begun twisting inwards - a rare condition known as intussusception - leading alarmed doctors to blue light him straight to Bristol Royal Hospital for Children.
This condition describes the bowels 'telescoping in' on themselves, which leads the organ's walls to press on one another, blocking it.
The sheer pain, doctors later told Jodie and Lewis, almost killed their child, informing them that if they'd arrived at A&E 20 minutes later, Elias would have gone into cardiac arrest,
But Elias' condition had deteriorated to such an extent, that part of his bowels had actually 'died', with him needing a four-hour operation to remove this section of his colon.
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"When they opened him up, he was actually a lot worse than they thought," Jodie explained.
"We were told Elias was very close to going into cardiac arrest because his body couldn't cope with the pain anymore.
"They told us if he was half an hour later, he would've died."
Now, she and Elias' father are raising awareness of the need for a second opinion if you're not convinced about your child's health diagnosis.
"We feel so lucky he's still here with us. I think if we hadn't pushed with the doctors, he wouldn't have been here now," Jodie said.
As well as using her experience to encourage more parents to make themselves aware of this bowel condition in particular, the says scared mums and dads should always call for further inspection if you feel something is really wrong.
"If this saves another child and there's a parent out there who's child's symptoms are the same, then we've done our job.
"Just advocate for yourself and demand for more tests."
Featured Image Credit: Kennedy News and MediaTopics: Health, Parenting, UK News, Pregnancy