Mom Says Cold Sore Nearly Killed Her Newborn 4 Years Ago, Now She's Sharing Her Heartbreaking Story

By Amanda Thomason May 11, 2019 at 11:34am

When you find out you’re expecting, you go through a flurry of changes, preparation and excitement. People celebrate with you, you get to go shopping for adorable things and you learn a mind-boggling amount of information about how to care for your new little one.

Doctor’s appointments. Morning sickness. Swollen ankles. Through it all, you’re given all sorts of advice — helpful and not-so-helpful — from well-meaning friends, family and complete strangers.

But there’s one thing that a lot of people aren’t talking about. Something that can make all the difference between raising a healthy child and saying goodbye far too prematurely. One mother is telling her story to make sure that no one else has to experience what she and her family have.

Brittany Wilbur has noticed a terrifying trend in the posts of heartbroken mothers that she sees on social media, and she feels much of their pain.

She nearly lost her own newborn daughter, Bailee, just days after welcoming her into the world in April 2015. Though their story since then has been painful, she wants to share it for the greater good.

“I continue to see these posts scroll across my timeline of these babies that are dying 3 days after birth, 8 days after birth, 20 days after birth; and I feel like if I share her full story and it’s put out there that it may just save one baby,” she wrote on Facebook on May 6.

“Bailee was born on a Friday,” Wilbur continued. “She was healthy, she was chubby, and she was beautiful. We stayed at the hospital through the weekend. When it came to Sunday morning I noticed that Bailee’s breathing was not comfortable, it was forced. She did not stir to nurse and had not nursed all of that prior night.”

Wilbur then launched into a detailed description of her daughter’s steep and immediate decline. Her breathing wasn’t right. Medicine, oxygen and antibiotics weren’t fixing the problems.

They rode in an ambulance, moving her from St. Francis Hospital in Mooresville, Indiana, to St. Francis South Campus in Beechgrove, Indiana. Then they were taken to Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis by helicopter.

Bailee’s organs started to shut down. She contracted pneumonia. She was poked and prodded, and many tests were run to try to determine what was wrong.

By day four, they finally had an answer: HSV type 1.

“Never heard of it?” Wilbur wrote. “Herpes simplex virus type 1. In other words, a cold sore. A cold sore almost killed our daughter. It attacked her lungs, then her heart, and lastly her brain. That’s how this virus works in babies without an immune system. It travels through their tiny bodies infecting and shutting down organs.”

Wilbur told Liftable, a section of the Western Journal, that their lives have been completely changed because of that one “little” virus that no one had warned her about. Bailee, now 4 years old, suffers from a variety of conditions directly linked to the initial infection.

“Bailee’s Epilepsy has generalized and this past Fall she was diagnosed with Lennox Gastaut Syndrome, a severe form of Epilepsy that stemmed from the micro bleed on her brain,” Wilbur told Liftable.

“We have medical emergencies on a regular basis with her unfortunately,” she continued. “The most discouraging part in all of this is the difficulty to legally prove any type of medical negligence in these type of cases.”

Wilbur said that since she needs to be present to care for her daughter, she’s had to stop working and endures intense PTSD from the entire ordeal. She also explained that because people often jump to incorrect conclusions and get very judgmental, she’s been hesitant to share her story because she’s worried readers will be critical.

“I had never publicly shared Bailee’s story out of fear of ignorance,” she told Liftable. “We endured judgment from even some family after we received Bailee’s diagnosis (HSV1) out of pure ignorance based on the negative connotation of this Virus. Most people automatically think that Bailee was infected with an STD when that is not the truth at all.”

The World Health Organization states on its website that 67 percent of the world’s under-50 population is estimated to be infected with HSV-1. That’s around 3.7 people, making the need for vigilance crucial.

In her Facebook post, Wilbur warned people to be aware of who comes into contact with their babies, and pled with those who may have cold sores, or are prone to them, to give newborns a wide berth.

Wilbur is also urging all expectant mothers to make sure they get tested for the virus so they can take appropriate measures and prevent the sort of nightmare that she’s had to suffer through.

“After what we have been through it blows my mind that this is not a ‘necessary’ test during gestation,” she said.

Wilbur said they’ve figuratively “been to hell and back” multiple times. Despite their trials, it’s clear this mother has admiration for her miracle child who has beaten the odds and fights back against the hand she’s been dealt every single day.

“Bailee is the most resilient person I have ever met,” Wilbur told Liftable. “She gets back up after every medical set back, dusts herself off, and laughs in the face of whatever tried to drag her down.

“I always quote our Infectious Disease doctor when I talk about what Bailee has gone through: on our 6 month check-up he told me that he truly had no idea how Bailee survived and that it is not everyday you get to witness a living, breathing, miracle.”

“I wholeheartedly hope this saves a baby or two from what happened to Bailee,” the mother concluded. “When I say Bailee is a miracle, I mean that in every sense of the word.”

Liftable, a section of The Western Journal has reached out to Riley’s Children Hospital for comment but has not yet received a response. We will update this article if and when we do.

Submit a Correction →