Nancy's story

In April 2023, three-year-old Nancy and her parents, Donna and Steve, had spent five days in London, visiting from South Cumbria for Nancy’s regular appointments at Great Ormond Street Hospital for her rare autoinflammatory condition.

But on the final day of their trip, Nancy went to brush her teeth in the hotel bathroom, when any parent’s worst nightmare occurred.

“We were cleaning out a flask that had had milk in it,” said Steve. “So I had filled it with boiling water and put it out of the way on the back of the toilet in the bathroom.”

“We think Nancy must have thought it was cold water,” said Donna. “As she grabbed it, the heat on the surface of the flask must have shocked her and this caused her to tip it over.

“The boiling water came down on top of her, across her arms and torso. What followed, were the screams.”

Nancy was immediately in significant pain and distress. Donna and Steve worked together to remove Nancy’s clothes and cool her down.

“Removing the clothes was traumatic in itself,” recalled Donna. “With the clothes, off came her skin too, her skin was just falling off her hands, arms, abdomen and torso. But we knew we needed to get them off and try and cool her the best we could.”

Once the clothes were removed, Steve placed Nancy under a cold shower, while Donna rushed to the hotel reception to call 999, as their mobile phones were not connecting. Once the 999 call had been made, Donna returned to the room, bringing with her some clingfilm from the kitchen, to wrap and protect Nancy’s wounds as best they could.

“When I got back to the room, Nancy was on the bed, in absolute hysterics. But we managed to wrap her wounds, and it wasn’t long until paramedics from the London Ambulance Service (LAS) arrived.

London’s Air Ambulance always has a paramedic in the LAS control centre, monitoring the emergency calls. Their role is to identify which incidents are the most critical and therefore require the attendance of London’s Air Ambulance’s advanced trauma team.

“While LAS were on their way, I spoke to the air ambulance paramedic in the control centre,” said Steve. “The clinician asked me questions about Nancy’s injuries and what had happened. Because of how severe the injuries were, he decided to dispatch the London’s Air Ambulance crew too.”

On their arrival, our team found that Nancy had already received effective first aid from her parents and LAS, but she was still in significant pain. One of the most important interventions that our team can provide for a severely injured patient is the administration of strong painkillers to stop them suffering. The team can do this either orally, intravenously via a cannula or by inhaling through the nose.

In Nancy’s case, the team elected to give her fentanyl – a powerful painkiller – through her nose as it is very easy to administer for children and works incredibly quickly.

 “This was really effective,” said Steve. “It calmed the whole situation down and helped her be more comfortable for the treatment and for the transfer to hospital.”

Nancy was taken to The Royal London Hospital, where the team there proceeded to fully assess her injuries and start the treatment required. In the evening, she was transferred to Manchester Royal Infirmary, which was closer to home and where Nancy stayed for a further 10 days.

Due to her rare autoinflammatory condition and the fact that Nancy had sustained partial thickness burns, she had to remain in isolation: she wasn’t allowed to leave her room.

“We had a usually very active three-year-old, who had just gone through the most traumatic experience of her life, being penned into four walls for 10 days,” said Donna. “It was a really hard time for her.”

Nancy’s wounds had to be inspected, cleaned and redressed, which was incredibly distressing and painful for Nancy. In the end, this had to be done under general anaesthetic to manage the pain.

After these 10 days, the family returned home and were able to self-manage the cleaning of Nancy’s wounds. Luckily, they experienced no infections, the wounds healed impeccably and Nancy made a fantastic recovery.

Two years later, Nancy is at primary school and is determined to become a children’s nurse when she grows up, with a passion for helping others.

“She’s a very active, confident, lovely little girl, who swims, skis and plays football,” said Steve. “She’s very sharp and clever.”

One of our consultants, Dr Cosmo Scurr, who attended to Nancy, said: “It was a pleasure to see Nancy and her family again when they visited us at The Royal London Hospital. I was really glad to hear how much we had helped them on the day, and that our care had eased the pain and distress in their moment of need. It has been wonderful to see how she has bounced back from those injuries and has healed so well.”

On reflection of their time in hospital, Donna said: “We took it day by day when Nancy was in hospital, it was a horrendous time. But you have to stay strong and advocate for your child. You have to focus on what you can do for them”

Nancy’s recovery has gone so well, Donna and Steve say if you didn’t know what she’d been through, you wouldn’t be able to tell.

“If what had happened to Nancy had happened in our local area, her outcome could have been so different. Although it was an awful thing to happen, we’re thankful we were in London, we were thankful for the teams that responded in the time that they did and for the care that she received. It was second to none. The best possible care she could have received.

“London’s Air Ambulance is an invaluable service. We’re very thankful that people are giving donations to air ambulances across the country.”

Nancy herself said:

“It's not nice to have to need their help but they helped me with my pain and made me feel happier. If you ever need the help of the London's Air Ambulance team, don't worry and don't be afraid.”