Our baby's red ears and throat were mistaken for an infection

A BABY has been diagnosed with a rare life-threatening syndrome after her red ears and throat were initially thought to be a fever.

- STEVEN SMITH

Eleven-month-old Billie Frankcombe was born a “healthy” baby on November 7, 2024, and hit all of her milestones.

But her parents Hannah, 33, and Ben, 39, from Cardiff, grew concerned when she became unwell in the middle of last month.

A visit to the GP revealed she had red ears and a red throat, but it was put down to a viral infection that would clear up in the next few days.

When Billie’s infection worsened, Hannah took her to A&E on September 17, when she became “floppy” and had a temperature of 40.1°C.

Over the next 48 hours, Billie became very poorly, swelling up and turning yellow, leaving doctors stumped initially.

Doctors did multiple tests and ruled out lots of things, so a decision was made to have a specialist haematologist take a look at her and conduct a bone marrow sample.

Hours later, Hannah and Ben were given the devastating news that, while she did not have cancer, she did have hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) - a rare hyperinflammatory syndrome. It causes uncontrolled immune activation, inflammation, tissue damage and organ failure, often mimicking sepsis.