Mother's warning as toddler loses fingers and toes after waking up with 'unusual' rash

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A little boy has been left with life-changing injuries after waking up with a horror rash that spread across his body within hours - and caused him to lose his fingers and toes.

On Easter Sunday, Zoe Walne, 37, had noticed a 'strange' red blotch on Teddie's head, her 17-month-old son, who she described as a 'normal, energetic and mischievous' child.

The mum-of-four had made plans to meet her mother for a walk that day and left Teddie with her partner Duncan Stewart, 39.

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By the time she had arrived at her mum's home, the blotches had spread to his stomach. The family called 111 and they were told to keep an eye on it and wait for a follow-up call two hours later, but within minutes the blotches had begun to turn purple and looked like 'bruises'.

Zoe told The Mirror : "When he woke up he had a bit of an unusual rash, but it went downhill fast from there. As I was getting him dressed I noticed the tiniest little pink mark on his forehead and thought it was strange.

"I thought 'I'll ask my mum what she thinks it is', but by the time I got to my mum's he had the same little marking on his stomach. I said 'I'm just going to ring 111 because I'm not sure what they are'.

"The woman on the phone told me to keep an eye on them and said that she would get a doctor to ring me back in two hours.

"But within about 45 minutes the one near his neck looked like a bit of a bruise so I thought 'I'm not waiting'. I rung back up and described it again and she said I'm going to ring you an ambulance."

Within minutes paramedics arrived and told Zoe they suspected Teddie had 'dreaded' meningitis. Meningitis is an infection of the