British girl, 2, dies after contracting stomach bug following a holiday in Turkey

A two-year-old British girl has died after contracting a tummy bug following a holiday at a hotel in Turkey, it emerged today.
Her family had to make the heartbreaking decision to switch off her life support after she was flown back to the UK and had been rushed to hospital.Her family had to make the heartbreaking decision to switch off her life support after she was flown back to the UK and had been rushed to hospital.
Her family had to make the heartbreaking decision to switch off her life support after she was flown back to the UK and had been rushed to hospital.

Allie Birchall was struck down by E.Coli poisoning and developed complications after staying in the city of Antayla.

Her family had to make the heartbreaking decision to switch off her life support after she was flown back to the UK and had been rushed to hospital.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The little girl died on August 3 - just three weeks before her third birthday - and less than two weeks after returning home from their holiday at the resort.

Allie Birchall was struck down by E.Coli poisoning and developed complications after staying in the city of Antayla.Allie Birchall was struck down by E.Coli poisoning and developed complications after staying in the city of Antayla.
Allie Birchall was struck down by E.Coli poisoning and developed complications after staying in the city of Antayla.

Her mum, Katie Dawson, told how all members of the family suffered from gastric symptoms including stomach cramps and diarrhoea during their 10 day stay.

The family had travelled to Turkey with tour operator Jet2 Holidays on 12 July.

Katie said they had concerns over the hygiene at the resort, including faeces in a swimming pool and food which had not been properly heated.

She said: "Food was sometimes left uncovered and occasionally served lukewarm, and there were birds occasionally flying around the food.

"It was disgusting."

Read More
Scottish girl, 8, plans her own funeral after medics took four years to diagnose...

But Allie did not start getting ill until five days after getting back to their home in Atherton, Greater Manchester, when she began suffering with stomach cramps, diarrhoea, loss of appetite and lethargy.

Peppa Pig fan Allie was seen by an out-of-hours GP, but as she got worse she was admitted to Royal Bolton Hospital on July 30 where various tests were carried out.

It was confirmed that Allie had contracted Shiga-Toxin producing E.Coli (STEC), which later led to her developing deadly Haemolytic Uraemic Syndrome (HUS) - a life-threatening complication related to the poisoning.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

HUS is a serious and potentially fatal condition that affects the blood and blood vessels, resulting in the destruction of blood platelets. It can also cause kidney failure and brain damage.

Allie was moved to the Manchester Royal Infirmary and put in an induced coma on August 1.

An MRI scan was carried out, which revealed that she had sustained severe brain trauma and damage. Katie had to make the difficult decision to terminate Allie's life support following the advice from doctors.

Allie died on August 3.

Katie said: "In sharing Allie's story, we want to make people more aware of the signs and symptoms of STEC HUS.

"I keep thinking that if I had known about the condition, then I would have probably taken Allie to hospital sooner and it wouldn't have ended the way it did.

"Allie was such a beautiful, happy girl and we are all utterly heartbroken. We still can't believe she is gone.

"Allie was an intelligent, beautiful and independent little lady.

"She was always giving kisses and cuddles at home, and always wanted to be sat on someone's knee or to be picked up and carried around.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"Allie loved baking, playing with her dolls, playing nurse and she was always sticking plasters on us and our dogs.

"I bought her a nurse's outfit and doctor's bag full of equipment for her birthday but she never got to see them.

"Allie also loved watching Peppa Pig and singing nursery rhymes.

"There is now a massive hole in our home and our hearts. We all miss her dearly. She should not have died. She had so much to give.

"While nothing will bring her back, we need to know what caused her illness and if anything could have been done to prevent it.

"We all suffered gastric illness and there were a number of people complaining of being unwell during our stay at the hotel, but we didn't anticipate how serious it could be."

The family have now instructed specialist international serious injury lawyers, Irwin Mitchell, to investigate what happened.

Public Health England is also currently investigating the matter, and an inquest has been opened to examine the circumstances surrounding Allie's death.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Jatinder Paul, a Senior Associate Solicitor and specialist international serious injury lawyer at Irwin Mitchell representing the family, said: "Allie's family are understandably heartbroken at the loss of their lovely little girl and are struggling to come to terms with what happened.

"Through our work we are sadly only too aware of the potentially devastating consequences of serious illnesses such as STEC and E.coli, particularly for children, which are only highlighted by Allie's sad death.

"This is every parent's worst nightmare and we are supporting Katie and her family through this difficult time and are now investigating how Allie contracted her illness.

"As part of our investigations, we are looking into the family's stay at the hotel and if any issues are identified, we hope that measures will be taken to ensure this does not happen again."