A mum and dad who had to say their final goodbyes to their four-week-old baby says they are “forever in St Georges’ Hospital’s debt”, after staff successfully performed three life-saving operations.

On Thursday, March 23, 2023, Vicky, and Tom Beazley experienced the biggest “shock of their lives” that no parent should ever have to go through.

At just four-weeks-old, their baby boy Louis was struggling with feeding and suffered with tummy troubles, so mum and dad Vicky and Tom took him for a check at Queen Mary’s Hospital A&E department in Sidcup.

After later being sent home, Louis started to pass blood, and Vicky and Tom soon rushed back to A&E, where Louis’s health quickly declined.

News Shopper:

Vicky told the News Shopper: “He stopped feeding completely and became very lethargic and tired.

“The nurses had to fit him with a nasal gastric tube to feed him, and he had to have a canular put in his hands.

“Having had no experience in the hospital in our lives, this was really stressful and upsetting.”

Vicky claims that the team at Queens’ couldn’t help Louis anymore, and the hospital soon searched for beds at Great Ormond Street, Kings College Hospital and Evelina Hospital.

Vicky said: “None of the hospitals had beds available.

“Louie was deteriorating – by this point, I was in hysterics.

“My husband and I were just praying, we even asked if there was a private hospital, we could take him to.

“They were even talking about taking him to Brighton Hospital.”

Soon after, St George’s Hospital got in contact and said they had space available for Louie, so Vicky, Tom, and Louis, were blue-lighted in the middle of the night to the Tooting hospital.

News Shopper:

Louis went on to spend three weeks in the PICU and had three life-saving operations within that time, after he developed complications from his first surgery to create a stoma.

Vicky said: “In under 24 hours we went from Louie not being able to go to the toilet to him having a major operation.

“While we were at A&E in St George’s, his vital statistics crashed, and he had to be put on oxygen and resuscitated.

“We were told he had to go to intensive care before the operation.

“All of a sudden, the doctors were running down the corridor and I thought he had died.

“We burst through the doors at intensive care, and I was screaming for them to save my baby’s life.”

Vicky says Louis's blood pressure had dropped, his oxygen was low, and he was being resuscitated for the second time.

He was then stabilised and went in to the operation for a stoma to be created.

“The operation took about three hours” Vicky added, which she described as “absolute torture”.

“He came out, and I was thanking all the doctors that they saved his life”.

To her dismay, Vicky later concluded that Louie was still “not right”, as his cry sounded different to usual.

The next morning, blood tests came back that his infection rate had spiked and had developed septic shock after a blockage in his bowels.

Six days later, Louie had to undergo a second operation.

Vicky said: “We were on life saving operation two in under a week.

“We were told to take Louie out of the baby cot and cuddle him, as we didn’t know if he would make this operation.

“The doctors told us the risks, and it was very upsetting.

“But luckily, Louis came back from the operation.”

A few days later, Louis was moved to a children surgical ward in St George’s Hospital, where he later felt “excruciating pain” according to Vicky.

After being moved back to intensive care, so Louie was able to have morphine on a drip, they found that his stoma stopped working and he wasn’t passing any stool again.

“We were told he would have to have a third life-saving operation”, Vicky said, as the scar tissue from the previous operations caused damage.

After the third operation, Louis was moved to the children’s ward, where he eventually got better.

Vicky told the News Shopper: “We were trained how to empty his stoma bag instead of wiping a dirty nappy.

“He still has a nappy for a wee, but everything else is through the bag.

“I felt like I was being trained in nursing as I had no experience doing this before.”

Due to the severity of Louis’s health, Vicky claims the doctors thought the issue was because of Hirschsprung disease - a birth defect where nerve cells are missing in the large intestine and eventually blocks the bowels.

But after doing a biopsy, results found that it wasn’t Hirschsprung Disease.

“This was a relief” Vicky added, but it left her with questions as to what caused the rapid decline of Louis's health.

Now (November 2), Vicky and Tom still await the results from the biopsy, which has been sent to Great Ormond Street for a “second opinion”.

News Shopper:

Vicky says all the PICU staff, nurses, HCAs, doctors, and consultants, at St Georges' Hospital worked “tirelessly” to keep their baby alive and Vicky and Tom now want to raise as much money as they can for the hospital.

Tom, Louis’ dad, is taking on the monumental challenge of running the London Marathon in 2024 – with a fundraising target of £5,000.

You can donate to the fundraiser here

Vicky added: “They don’t get the recognition like the other children’s hospitals – the staff are completely overworked, and I saw it with my own eyes.

“Without the help of St Georges’, Louis wouldn’t be alive.

“We’re forever in their debt and want to raise as much money as possible.”