Busted star Charlie Simpson warns parents after son rushed to hospital with secondary drowning
Busted singer Charlie Simpson has issued a warning to parents after his son needed to be rushed to hospital after suffering from secondary drowning while on a family getaway.
His son Jago, had been swimming underwater at the hotel pool before he came to the surface "spluttering and coughing."
The four-year-old seemingly recovered before vomiting and becoming "lethargic" after dinner.
After seeing a doctor, Mr Simpson's son was diagnosed with food poisoning before being advised to put him to bed.
The 37-year-old said: "Before the doctor left, I suddenly remembered Jago coughing in the pool that morning and I remembered reading about a condition called secondary drowning, so I relayed it to the doctor.
"After hearing this, his demeanour changed and he told us to go to A&E straight away."
The musician said it took them an hour to travel to hospital, during which time Jago's condition deteriorated.
"He seemed to be drifting in and out of consciousness," Simpson said.
"He was rushed through to have CT scans and X-Rays and to our absolute horror, we were told that he had water in his lungs and was minutes away from pneumonia."
Jago had to spend the next three days in hospital after being diagnosed with secondary drowning.
What is secondary drowning?
“Secondary drowning” is term people use to describe a certain type of drowning complication.
It can occur if water gets into the lungs. It can then irritate the lungs’ lining and fluid can build up, causing a condition called pulmonary edema.
Symptoms can include:
Coughing
Chest pain
Trouble breathing
Feeling extremely tired
People may also have changes in behaviour such as such as irritability or a drop in energy levels, which could mean the brain isn't getting enough oxygen.
Simpson added: "It was the worst thing we have ever experienced. The scariest thing of all, is that had we not taken him to hospital when we did, the outcome could have been very different."After doing a lot of research, secondary drowning is seemingly quite rare but even so, not talked about. It takes less than half a glass of inhaled water to drown. Symptoms can start as long as 72 hours after the event which can make them hard to diagnose. These include vomiting, fever, laboured breathing and lethargy."I truly hope no one ever has to experience this but I hope to be able to raise some awareness of this frightening condition in case they do."
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