Mother tells of how she lost her daughter to Strep A by listening to doctors trends now

For the past six months, an anger has roiled deep inside me — a rage buried under layers of terrible grief and pain.

The cause? The death of my precious little girl, who slipped away before my eyes in May, aged just nine.

Her death came after doctors misdiagnosed her twice, when instead they should have been treating her invasive Group A Strep infection.

Then, last weekend, when I read of all these other children dying in the same way as my funny, loving, beautiful Scarlotte, my anger finally erupted and I wept with bitter frustration.

At the time Scarlotte lost her life, Strep A seemed like a terrible and rare tragedy. Today, knowing other families are suffering in the same way mine is . . . well, now my fury just cannot be contained.

I’m furious with myself because, like those other grieving parents, I let doctors’ reassurances override my instincts as a mother. And I’m angry that over five long days Scarlotte was misdiagnosed: first our GP thought she had croup — a mild childhood respiratory infection — and later another doctor concluded she had food poisoning.

By the time my husband, Calley, a production operative, and I realised just how desperately ill she was, it was too late.

When we eventually arrived at A&E, it was so obvious to the staff how sick Scarlotte was, they put her in a wheelchair and rushed her straight to a resuscitation room. They quickly got her on life support, but sepsis had overwhelmed her body. They couldn’t save her.

I cradled her in the moments after she’d died, her neck still warm in the crook of my arms. My child had gone. I still can’t believe it. The shock is all-encompassing.

Scarlotte became ill on Monday, May 23, and died in the early hours of Saturday, May 28. If I’d known even the first thing about Strep A then, I’d have taken her straight to hospital on the Wednesday when her condition got so much worse. I’m certain if I had, she would have got the antibiotics she needed — and would still be with us today.

Instead, I nursed her myself at home. Her symptoms corresponded to the GP’s diagnosis. Yet I fear what I did — not following my instincts, not questioning the doctors — will forever haunt me.

There’s nothing I can do to ease my guilt. But at least the anger I feel has encouraged me to speak out. I need other parents to know what Strep A looks like. Then, if they spot the signs, they’ll get their children the treatment they need.

The first sign of a problem was when Scarlotte, along with her little sister, Sienna, six, both started complaining of sore throats and rattly coughs.

I kept them off school for the day, and the next morning Sienna had fully recovered — if she had the same infection, her body managed to fight it off, as many children do — while Scarlotte still seemed off colour. But she had a school trip she was looking forward to, and wanted to prove to me she was well enough for it, so she insisted on going back into school with her sister.

I’m a stay-at-home mum, so I saw Scarlotte return that afternoon with heavy eyes — she looked so tired.

Normally lively, Scarlotte wanted to be a teacher. Either that or an ice cream van driver. And if she wasn’t recording herself dancing on TikTok, she was playing around with her hair or drawing pictures and writing sweet notes to us and her friends. She was always on the go.

But that evening, she wasn’t interested in eating her dinner and just wanted her bath and bed.

I remember tucking her in, giving her some Calpol and hoping she’d be well enough by morning to join her classmates at the local botanical gardens, near our home in County Durham. My biggest worry that evening was how disappointed she would be if she wasn’t well enough to go on the trip.

At 4am, Scarlotte woke me, saying she felt like there were knives down her throat. I put my hand on her forehead — she was very hot to the touch. She managed to swallow another dose of Calpol, but drinking water was too painful.

We spent the morning on the sofa together. When I realised the paracetamol wasn’t bringing her temperature down, I got a GP appointment that afternoon, where he examined her ears, nose and throat.

He said her throat looked a bit red and there were lots of viruses going around. He thought it could be croup.

His biggest concern seemed to be whether Scarlotte was dehydrated because she was struggling to drink through the pain in her throat.

‘If she hasn’t passed any water by 5pm, then you

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