Kira Aldcroft is sharing a vital warning with other parents after suffering the most heartbreaking loss imaginable.
The young mother from Prestwich, Greater Manchester, England, delivered her son, Leo, on August 9, 2018. The little boy was born nine days premature, with Kira having had a normal, healthy pregnancy before that.
Tragically, things took a turn only eight days after Leo's birth. He was quickly taken back to the hospital when he started bleeding from his mouth, which doctors suspected had been caused by sepsis. Eventually, the newborn was placed in an induced coma. Doctors then realized that Kira had passed the herpes HSV2 virus on to her son, not knowing she was even infected with genital herpes.
"I was physically sick when the herpes test came back positive, as I had done everything humanly possible to give my son the best start in life," the mom of one told Caters News. "I could have contracted it before or during the pregnancy, as it can be dormant for months or years, so there’s no way of telling. I had no knowledge I had the virus, as there were no symptoms other than thrush, and if I had been offered a test during my pregnancy, all this heartache could have been avoided."
Both of the two strains of herpes are extremely dangerous to very young babies, who can catch the virus during vaginal delivery.
Despite doctors doing all they could to save Leo, his organs began to fail. Kira was forced to make the agonizing decision to shut off his life support machines. Leo died on August 19, at only 10 days old.
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Now, in her grief, Kira is campaigning to make sure other mothers don't suffer this same senseless loss.
"I’m now urging men and women to get tested. That’s my message to everyone — not just pregnant women," she said. "I hope sharing Leo’s story will save other lives."
Check out the video to learn more about Leo and Kira's story.
