Kid could die every time she goes to sleep or watches Peppa Pig due to rare condition
A mum has revealed why her daughter risks death 'every time' she watches Peppa Pig on TV.
When Sadie Bowyer, from Birmingham, was born, she remained in intensive care for the first six months of her life after being in 'respiratory distress'.
At two months old, Sadie was diagnosed with Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome and underwent a tracheostomy - a hole created in the neck with a tube placed in the windpipe - to help her breathe.
However, the now-six-year-old's parents, Star and Andrew Bowyer, claim there are some instances where Sadie's breathing doesn't function automatically. But why during Peppa Pig?
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The mum says Sadie's 'brain can forget to breathe and send signals for her heart to beat' which means 'every single night' there's a possibility her daughter 'could die within minutes' if she weren't hooked up to a ventilator.
She continues: "If she concentrates really hard, she'll stop breathing. If she's concentrating really hard on Peppa Pig, she'll stop breathing.
"She starts turning blue, she gets tired from carbon monoxide retention and she'll go very still. I immediately put her on the ventilator."
Sadie's condition means she 'can't be left unattended' and requires a nurse with her during school hours in case she suddenly 'falls asleep'.
"We have to be careful with long car journeys or watching a film in the evening. We have hospital-grade equipment in her bedroom," Star says. "She's watched 24/7. I haven't slept for six years because I'm listening for alarms at night."
Star and Andrew say it feels like having two children, with the mum explaining: "She's a completely normal child in the day but when she falls asleep, she stops breathing."
The Bowyers have since set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for Sadie to have Diaphragmatic Pacers fitted which will help her breathe without a ventilator - the surgery costs £160,000.
Star says: "It could change her life. It wouldn't matter if she fell asleep.
"[...] The pacers would help her be like any other kid. [...] She went to the park and some kids were pointing at her tracheotomy and calling her ugly so she came running over and asked me to take it out but then they were pointing at the hole in her neck and calling her disgusting.
"[...] She's miss independent and she gets upset having a nurse in her bedroom, she wants privacy and to go to playdates.
"It impacts everything."
Topics: Health, TV and Film, Parenting
Poppy Bilderbeck