Fylde coast mum's desperation over daughter's mystery illness

A worried mum from Fleetwood says she is no closer to getting answers after her teenage daughter fell ill months ago.

Angela New, 45, became concerned after daughter Chloe, 18, was plagued with severe headaches and nausea for weeks and then, alarmingly, her feet and legs turned purple.

Chloe's symptoms started back in February and at first Mrs New thought they were the temporary side effects of Chloe taking the AstraZeneca vaccine just 24 hours before - but they haven't gone away.

After Chloe, who has cerebral palsy, was admitted to Blackpool Victoria Hospital in May, Mrs New says the hospital did not seem to know what was wrong with her daughter or how to deal with the issue.

Mrs New, of Agnew Road, has lodged a complaint against the hospital and says she feels helpless as her daughter's symptoms still persist.

She said: "We don't know where to turn, it just goes on and on.

"Chloe is studying at home for a law degree with Lancaster University but she is getting behind with her work.

"All I want is for someone to look into it and try and fix or alleviate the symptoms so she can get back to trying to lead a normal life and stop feeling so ill.

"But we ae not getting anywhere and I even pleaded on Facebook, asking if anyone could help."

Chloe has already endured a number of operations in the past because of her cerebral palsy, including a procedure in America when she was 12 which allowed her to walk unaided.

But it has not stopped her excelling in her studies and she booked a place on the law degree course last September.

However, her problems began in February and when they became even worse by May, her mum decided to get medical help.

Mrs New, who is married to Terry, 47 and has a younger son, Ben, 13, said: "I started with the walk-in centre and they told me to take Chloe home and give her paracetamol.

"When her legs turned even brighter purple I took her to A&E at Blackpool Victoria but the doctor was reluctant to admit her to hospital due to the current covid situation with her being vulnerable so again we were sent home.

"The following day Chloe looked awful and had started with Nausea and stomach pains so again I took her up to A and E, this time she was admitted to hospital and stayed there the full weekend having a full array of tests to rule out anything sinister."

An appointment with a rheumatologist was booked and tests were taken for vasculitis but Mrs New said: "The rheumatologist categorically stated it wasn't vasculitis and said he had never seen anything like this before and had no idea on how to treat her.

"I have since spoken to the doctors and they have no idea how to help."

Mrs New said she had lodged a complaint because she felt the matter had not been dealt with properly.

She said: "My daughter still has a constant headache, constant nausea, purple legs and feet and rashes that appear and disappear. Aches and pains in her joints and stomach ache.

"Chloe needs to be seen by someone and given some form of treatment to make her feel better, it is totally unacceptable that she is still no better 10 weeks after her symptoms started.

"As a parent of a disabled patient I would not expect to have to work this hard to try and get her some treatment, this whole experience has been appalling."

Mrs New has also tried to pursue a possible line that Chloe's problems might be linked to the vaccine and she tried to contact AstraZeneca.

But she added: "As I'm a member of the public they won't help me. We're all at our wits' ends."

Chloe said: "I spend a lot of the time in bed, I just can't lead any kind of normal life.

"The worst thing is that there's still no light at the end of the tunnel."

A spokesman for Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: ““As we respect our patients’ right to confidentiality, we would not comment publicly on individual cases.

“We can confirm we have received a concern from the family. Our Patient Relations Team are working with the family and will continue to keep them updated as our investigation progresses.

"All complaints give us the opportunity to improve our services and we encourage all our patients to provide us with feedback about their experience in order to do so.”