Two-Year-Old Boy Dies After Five Misdiagnosis

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About a month has passed since a two- year-old boy, Grayson Dunham, has died after what was thought to be a stomach flu.

“Our sweet, handsome, smart, outgoing, little boy was taken from us too soon for reasons we will never understand,” the 25-year-old Indiana mom, who’s pregnant with her second child, wrote on Facebook shortly after her firstborn’s death.

His mother, Kayla Dunham, first noticed that something was wrong with her little boy when he had started to suffer from diarrhea and began to vomit.

The family had recently visited a petting zoo, state fair and restaurant. But doctors couldn’t pinpoint a cause, despite a battery of tests that included chest and stomach X-rays and ultrasounds.

They reportedly first said it was the stomach flu. Then they said it seemed his intestines had folded over themselves. An appendix problem was also considered to be the culprit.

All the while, the boy’s symptoms worsened and his pain grew.

“We were misdiagnosed five times before they said, ‘yes this is HUS,’” Dunham said

What is HUS?

Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) is sometimes referred to as “Hamburger Disease,” according to The Kidney Foundation of Canada.

“It poses a substantial threat to Canadian children as one of the leading causes of both acute and chronic kidney failure,” the organization warns on its site.

HUS often follows a gastrointestinal illness caused by a dangerous strain of E. coli bacteria.

While most strains of E. coli are pretty harmless — and can even be found in our guts, for instance — the 0157:H7 strain is known to cause permanent damage to kidneys and the liver.

It was responsible for the tragic outbreak in Walkerton, Ont., in 2000, in which 2,500 people fell ill and seven died. That outbreak was caused by run-off from farm fields that made its way into the water supply.

Because it’s a bacteria that lives in guts, E. coli usually signals the presence of fecal contamination of some sort.

Although everyone is susceptible to E. coli infection, pregnant women, people with compromised immune systems, the elderly and young children are most at risk for developing serious complications from it.

(You can find more information on safe cooking practices that can help prevent HUS here.)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States says antibiotics shouldn’t be used to treat these infections because they may increase the risk of HUS. The preferred treatment is rehydration…

While doctors did try to rehydrate her son, Dunham says that it appears to have been too little and too late.

As he awaited surgery and dialysis, Grayson’s heart seemingly gave out on him. More than 20 doctors reportedly performed CPR on him for almost 2 hours in a desperate effort to save him.

Dunham took to Facebook to share this sad story. In her post, she said “Our sweet, handsome, smart, outgoing, little boy was taken from us too soon for reasons we will never understand” 

Dunham is currently expecting her second child, which is due in January.

 She shared her story in the hopes of enlightening other parents and also made a plea:

“I am sharing my story with you all in hopes that as parents you stand up for your children and advocate for them.

Never ever give up on them. We asked more questions than the doctors were probably prepared for.”