Baby Brady survives rare illness after international race to deliver lifesaving treatment at TUH

At just seven weeks old, Brady Young was a happy, healthy baby boy. But while his family was visiting Townsville from Cloncurry in February, Brady suddenly became critically unwell. 

What began as a day of fussiness and poor feeding quickly escalated into a medical emergency that saw Brady rushed to Townsville University Hospital, placed on life support and diagnosed with infant botulism, one of the rarest conditions clinicians are ever likely to encounter. 

Brady's mum Cheyenne Gamble said the warning signs were not obvious at first. 

"He wouldn't feed and he just continually kept crying from when he woke up in the morning," she said. 

"As the day went on, he became lethargic, still wouldn't eat and his cry got weaker, and when I tried to put him to sleep in the swing, he wasn't really moving, he was just staring blankly and had stopped producing tears, but initially I thought he was just getting exhausted." 

Realising something was seriously wrong, Cheyenne took Brady to Mater Hospital Townsville before he was transferred by ambulance to Townsville University Hospital (TUH). 

Despite clinicians' best efforts, Brady's condition continued to deteriorate; he became paralysed and was admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU), where he was placed on a ventilator. 

As specialists worked urgently to determine the cause of Brady's sudden paralysis, veteran paediatrician Dr Pat Ryan raised the possibility of infant botulism. Working alongside Clinical Director Dr Andrew Clift and the wider clinical team, clinicians quickly began testing to confirm the rare diagnosis. 

Infant botulism is an extremely rare illness caused by toxins that attack the nervous system, leading to progressive muscle weakness, paralysis and, in severe cases, the inability to breathe independently. 

Because the condition can progress rapidly, the clinical team made the decision to begin treatment before the diagnosis had been confirmed. 

But the only available antitoxin was in California, triggering an extraordinary international effort involving Townsville HHS staff, the Australian Government and US health authorities to get it to Brady as quickly as possible. 

Helping coordinate that effort was TUH registrar Dr Cathy Duan. 

"The moment botulism became a possibility, we knew every minute mattered and our focus immediately shifted to getting the antitoxin to Brady as quickly as possible," Dr Duan said. 

"It was Friday afternoon, and there were hours of phone calls, paperwork and approvals involving the health service, the Australian Government and the team in California, but once everything was in place, the antitoxin was on its way to Townsville. 

"Fortunately, the laboratory was able to confirm the diagnosis before the antitoxin arrived, with samples sent to Brisbane for highly specialised confirmatory testing for infant botulism. 

"This was a true multidisciplinary team effort, from the experienced clinicians who first suspected botulism and the pathology team that confirmed the diagnosis, to the executive team who expedited the approvals, the pharmacists, nurses and everyone who worked together to secure the antitoxin and give Brady the best possible chance.” 

Within days, the antitoxin had arrived and been administered, but for Cheyenne and her family, it was then a waiting game as they hoped the treatment would begin to reverse the devastating effects of the illness. 

"It was about a week to a week and a half before we saw the first little movement in his pinky toe, then we noticed movement in one of his fingers and from there everything slowly started to come back," she said.

“I feel the daily efforts of the hospital staff completing his daily exercises, reading him stories, having dance party’s and supporting us to take him outside to the gardens, even while on the ventilator, supported in gaining his movements back quicker.”

"One of the last things to return was Brady's ability to breathe on his own, and it took a really long time for him to regain the strength and coordination to use all of those muscles again."

Brady's recovery continued in PICU and the children’s ward over the weeks that followed, and after spending 91 days in hospital, he was finally discharged. 

Today, he remains on home oxygen and continues to receive nutrition through a nasogastric (NG) tube while he recovers, but he is making encouraging progress. 

"He's getting stronger all over, and the more we do the exercises and work on building that muscle strength, the more he's starting to regain all of those typical developmental milestones," Cheyenne said. 

Looking back, Cheyenne believes one unexpected twist of fate made all the difference. 

"We were meant to be back in Cloncurry when Brady got sick, but the floods meant we were stranded in Townsville and I truly believe that gave him the best chance of surviving," she said. 

Cheyenne also hopes sharing Brady's story encourages other parents to trust their instincts if something doesn't seem right with their child. 

"I'd just tell people, don't hesitate, take them to hospital because Brady deteriorated so quickly and it can go undiagnosed if people aren't familiar with the signs. 

"From the bottom of our hearts, I just want to thank every single person who cared for Brady, from the ambulance officers and emergency department staff to the doctors, nurses, allied health teams and everyone in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit and paediatric ward, because we were never treated like just another patient, we were treated like family."