Leeds baby left disabled and unable to walk and talk after mum caught 'common cold' virus while pregnant

Carer Courtney Farnell, aged 21, suffered from a virus which causes cold like symptoms in children and adults while she was pregnant with her daughter.

Courtney caught common cytomegalovirus (CMV) when she was eight weeks pregnant from her caring duties with vulnerable people.

The virus, which is transferred in saliva, tears and urine, is usually harmless, but can be fatal to unborn babies.

It damaged Courtney's unborn baby and she said she was urged to abort baby Minnie-Mae by medics who said she was likely to be stillborn.

Mum-of-one Courtney, from Leeds, said: "If you catch the CMV in the first stage of pregnancy it can have horrific outcomes.

"You can catch the virus through changing nappies and bottles, that I was doing regularly as a carer for both kids and adults, as well as just not washing your hands.

"You don't even notice it if you're not pregnant, but nobody ever warned me about it.

"I was mortified when I found out I could have caught the virus through my caring work.

"I don’t know how I caught it and I never will- it’s the worst part about CMV, it’s all unknown."

Courtney barely left her bed for four months, but she decided to keep the baby and Minnie-Mae is now 14 months old.

Minnie-Mae suffers from anaemia, stiffness, muscle weakness, epilepsy and severe brain damage, and Courtney said she doesn't regret her decision to keep her.

She spoke out to warn mums how serious the virus is and urge them to take precautions to protect themselves whilst they're pregnant.

Courtney fell pregnant in January 2019 and said she had some bleeding early on, but it was dismissed as normal.

Meanwhile she continued to work caring for kids, adults and elderly people, some of which were disabled and with weak immune systems, putting her significantly at risk.

A scan at 12 weeks revealed her unborn baby had fluid on the brain, which is a sign of CMV, but it quickly disappeared.

Her next scan at 20 weeks revealed "everything was wrong" and Minnie-Mae had severe brain damage, and liver and kidney problems, due to CMV.

Courtney said: "They told me she would never breathe on her own.

"It was like, bang, something just hit me in the heart.

"They told me to terminate the pregnancy, that I was really young and would be her carer for life - but I was a carer anyway as my job so I didn't want to give up.

"I was in a horrendous way then - I didn't get out of bed for four months and had to shave all my hair off because it got so matted.

"Everybody was supportive of my decisions to continue, but because none of them could ever relate to the pain I was feeling I think they felt awkward about what they could do.

"I will never forget my mum saying to me 'There's just nothing in you anymore' - it was the worst time of my life.

"Every week I was going for scans to check for a heartbeat until they sent me home to prepare to for her to die inside me and give birth to a dead baby.

"I was told she wouldn't make it overnight because she was in horrific condition, but I never gave up hope for Minnie.

"I needed to be positive because if she was fighting I knew we were going to be OK.

"Something was always telling me that she wasn't going to be as she said.

"She had the strongest heartbeat and was kicking a lot; how would she be doing that if she was so severely ill?

"I knew I wasn't going to give up, if I couldn't give her a chance then nobody would, so I started trying to be a bit more positive and get out of bed."

At 29 weeks, unborn Minnie's condition started to improve, and scans showed she was growing again, and it gave Courtney and the doctors hope.

Courtney was induced at 34 weeks due to reduced movement and Minnie-Mae was born on September 3 2019 at 11:58pm, weighting only 2lbs 4oz.

After four days she was taken off life support in St James's University Hospital, Leeds, and defied odds to breathe on her own.

"We were in the unknown then as to whether she would be blind, deaf or even start moving," said Courtney.

And while doctors predicted she'd be in hospital for three months, she came home after just three-and-a-half weeks.

Courtney was trained to feed Minnie-Mae through a tube in her nose which she still has now and she won't grow much above 13lbs.

Courtney said: "Minnie has had about 100 doctor's appointments in her life and, although not yet diagnosed, is likely to lose her vision and hearing over time as well as potential cerebral palsy.

"Although she has all this she's a very happy baby and learning new things every day."

Courtney created the Facebook group CMV Awareness, where more than 1,000 parents to share their experiences.

She said: "I get messages every day from people who caught it during their pregnancy and were diagnosed, but that was nothing like when I was pregnant as I felt quite alone.

"I feel lucky as Minnie is a lot more well-off than most CMV babies, as whilst she can't crawl, walk or talk, she can sit up even with her severe brain damage.

"A lot of CMV babies I hear about through the group are blind, deaf, quadriplegic or on end-of-life care."

It is a common infection in children, the virus is responsible for cold sores and chicken pox, but only around 1 in 1,000 babies born in the UK every year will have permanent disabilities as a result.

Anyone can be infected by CMV, and on the majority of occasions both adults and children show no symptoms.

But if a mother catches it for the first time whilst pregnant, it can be transferred to the unborn baby and cause birth defects.

The only way to prevent CMV is by taking simple hygiene precautions whilst pregnant like washing your hands with soap and not sharing cutlery or cups with children.