The mum of a County Durham toddler who died just 36 hours after falling ill can’t bring herself to return home where his toys remain strewn about the house.
Hudson Hewitt made his family's life complete, his mum said.
When the Ferryhill toddler, born July 2022, woke up to be sick and was holding his tummy one Saturday morning in January mum Shannon and dad Tyler, both 26, put it down to a bug.
His mum called 111 when he didn’t improve, and says a doctor diagnosed the Ferryhill tot over the phone with gastroenteritis, saying to keep him hydrated and ring back if he didn't get better.
But the two-and-a-half-year-old's condition worsened and he became unresponsive after going to urgent care a day later. He was blue-lit to Darlington Memorial where he died despite doctors’ efforts.
Mum Shannon Palfrey, 26, told the Echo: “It was all such a shock, totally out of the blue.
“We never felt like a family until we had Hudson. He made us us.
“He was full of character, so smiley. He loved farm animals, dinosaurs. He was a typical little boy.
“We haven’t been home. I can’t bring myself to - everything is the way we left it, all his toys are still in the living room.
“I’ve been to pick up letters but I haven’t gone through the front door.
“It doesn’t feel right going in there without him. Every time I go in the house I’m just going to see him in there.”
The family said Hudson woke up on January 18 morning at about 4.30am when Tyler got in from work and was crying, pointing at his stomach and was sick soon after. That day he was “all out of sorts, just didn’t play with his toys and was sleeping a lot”, Shannon said.
She called 111 and said he was diagnosed with a stomach bug, but claims the doctor said to keep him hydrated and call back if he didn’t improve in 24 hours.
“The next day (January 19) he went from being sick to literally not being able to keep anything down – he was projectile vomiting,” Shannon added, and they got him at appointment at urgent care in Bishop Auckland.
“They were trying to get his obs (observations) and laid him down to check his belly and told me they were going to ring an ambulance.
“He asked me for a cuddle. I picked him up and his breathing changed, he was wheezing a little. I laid him down and then he just went unresponsive.
“They rushed him to another room while we waited for the ambulance to Darlington.
“We got there and there were about 20 doctors in the room and they were asking me what had happened. The next time I looked they were doing CPR. It’s a sight I’ll never forget.”
He tragically passed away a short time later.
A pathologist found Hudson died due to a twisted bowel due to a birth defect, which they told Shannon most people born with can survive without issue.
She believes it may have been spotted if he’d had an appointment straight away, and is calling for all under-fives to get an in-person check when parents ring 111 instead of being given a diagnosis over the phone.
“I think if they had seen him on the Saturday and they did his observations something could have shown up,” she added.
"If an organ was shutting down maybe his blood pressure or something would have flagged there was something wrong.
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“With an adult we can say what the problem is, but a child can’t do that. He was the age where he’d say ‘yes’ to everything. As a parent you worry about your kids anyway, but you play a guessing game of if it's serious or not.
“I was such a cautious parent, I was always way over protective.”
A petition, set up by Shannon, is due to go live online this week calling for the change.
The Northern Echo contacted NHS 111 for comment.
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