KiwiParent from Parents Center NZ Test Volume | Page 60

Ruby's story
A little girl.
An undiagnosed tick bite.
A life threatening illness.
Ruby Penney was like any other seven year old growing up in
New Zealand; carefree, happy and talented, this little girl had an
infectious zest for life.
That all changed following the
winter of 2010 when Ruby’s family
– mum, Rachel, dad, Darren, and
brother, Sam – all went on holiday
to Australia.
Ruby was visiting a park and went
to pat a kangaroo. Her mum noticed
a speck of dirt in her hair and pulled
it out, only noticing then that the
speck had legs.
It was a tick.
What has followed has become the
stuff of nightmares. Though Ruby
seemed ok for several weeks she
had a strange rash on her neck
and began to complain of flu-like
symptoms. These steadily got
worse and a concerned mum took
her to her family doctor who read
her symptoms as a virus.
Several weeks of steadily declining
illness followed until the family
found themselves in the middle of
their nightmare when, completely
out of the blue, Ruby suffered an
immense seizure which had flung
her out of bed. What followed
was weeks in hospital, while Ruby
continued to suffer seizures and
doctors could not find a diagnosis
for her symptoms.
But they weren’t looking for an
illness which is uncommon here
and very hard to detect. Lyme
disease, caught from the bacteria
transferred from a simple tick bite.

Photo Credits: Kim Kobialko

Over the months that followed
Ruby’s health steadily declined. The

illness saw her suffering up to 70
life threatening seizures a month
and her mind became so befuddled
that, this earlier bright little girl,
could not count to 10 or remember
her ABC’s.
Doctors still could not find a
diagnosis.
There’s a saying that “a worried
mother does more research than
the FBI”. Rachel’s profession as a
nurse stood her in good stead as
she researched high and low to
find out what was wrong with her
little girl. Her research led her one
single conclusion and Ruby’s blood
was sent off for testing in the USA.
The test came back positive for
Lyme disease and its co-infection,
Bartonella.
The seven month delay in diagnosis
turned out to be critical as early
diagnosis would have meant easy
treatment. Early Lyme disease
detection means a cure with a
simple course of antibiotics but
seven months later this bacteria
had run rampant in this little girl’s
body and made itself at home in
every organ it could.
Ruby is now responding well to
treatment, which she ????????)????????????????Q????????)??????????????????????????)?????????????????????????????) ??????????Q??????????????????)????????????????????????????)??????????????????????????????)????????????????????????()
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