A miracle he can walk after hospital errors caused permanent brain damage

A Journey of Resilience and Hope

Sarah Sissons was given a piece of paper after the birth of her son Ryan, who had suffered severe brain damage due to mistakes made by medics at Nottingham City Hospital. "We were given a leaflet on adoption and told we would never be able to raise him," she said. How wrong they were.

Ryan, now aged 18, was diagnosed with hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE), cerebral palsy and global developmental delay, but is now able to walk, talk, ride a bike and play pool - defying the expectations of doctors. "That kid is a miracle, it's ridiculous. He should not be able to do the things he's doing," Ms Sissons, 38, gushes. "I was told he would never be able to ride a bike so I went out and bought him a bike. I don't want anyone to put limitations on my children."

Despite the inspiring efforts of Ryan and his parents, the damage inflicted shortly after his birth in 2007 was entirely preventable. Ms Sissons, from Long Eaton, said her son was "absolutely perfect" after he was born by an emergency Caesarean section at 40 weeks on September 27. "There were no problems with him at all. All the problems occurred at the post-natal ward," she said.

Ryan wouldn't feed properly, but his mum's pleas for help fell upon deaf ears. "Midwives would turn my buzzer off and say everything is fine," she said. "He was sweating, lip-smacking and bright yellow. He was a really poorly boy." Her baby boy was suffering what turned out to be hypoglycaemic seizures, which are caused by low blood sugar.

Ms Sissons demanded that Ryan was seen and he was taken down to the neonatal ward, where she heard a staff member say "we should've seen this baby hours ago". An MRI scan showed her son had "huge areas of brain damage and dead brain".

"They said he probably wouldn't make it through the night. I sat by his bedside and he did make it to the next day," she said. Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH), which runs City Hospital, took years to take responsibility for Ryan's brain damage, but eventually admitted that treating him sooner would have spared him the injury.

Ms Sissons contacted a solicitor who helped her put together a compensation claim, which was settled in 2019. The stress of caring round the clock for Ryan forced Ms Sissons to abandon a prospective career in law and politics and caused the breakdown of her first marriage. "This has been my whole adult life, caring for a child with a disability. It's been 18 years of dealing with this," she said. "We don't just have a fight with the hospital, we have to fight the school and benefits system. I gave up my career to look after Ryan and make sure he had everything he needed. I don't think we ever get off this merry-go-round."

Ms Sissons and Ryan are one of around 2,500 families who are included in an independent review of Nottingham's maternity services, the largest in NHS history. The inquiry, chaired by experienced midwife Donna Ockenden, is examining cases of baby and mother deaths and harm, including brain injuries, dating back to 2012. However, thanks to the campaigning of Ms Sissons, the review was expanded to include other exceptional cases as far back as 2006.

Ms Sissons said: "I don't get sad about it anymore, I'm not particularly angry but there's always that 'what if?' I'm grieving for the child that Ryan should've been. That's a different kind of grief. It's really hard. It's about having to pull positives out of it when I can. The government and local authorities need to take responsibility for these children now. They are going to crash the system."

Tracy Pilcher, chief nurse at NUH, said: "We are deeply sorry to Ryan, Sarah and their family for failings in the care provided following Ryan’s birth and recognise the huge impact this has had on them. A full review of their care was carried out to identify where improvements could be made and we have since implemented a range of new processes, such as helping staff to quickly recognise signs of hypoglycaemia in babies. We understand how hard it must have been for Sarah and her family to share their experiences with us and are thankful that we have had the opportunity to learn and improve. Feedback like this, along with that from Donna Ockenden and the Independent Maternity Review, are crucial in helping us to improve our services."