Lennie King was just six months old when his parents Charlie and Abbie noticed he was unwell
Lennie before getting ill, with Charlie King and partner Abbie Rodgers(Image: SWNS)
Parents were informed their son’s ‘rattly’ breath was simply a viral infection picked up at nursery – until he landed in intensive care with pneumonia and a collapsed lung. Charlie King and partner Abbie Rogers, both 31, started noticing their six-month-old son Lennie developing frequent colds and chest infections.
The new parents, from Thamesmead, south-east London, originally attributed it to bugs caught at nursery. However, after several months of “rattly breath” and difficulty breathing at night, they decided to keep him at home.
Their GP consistently assured them it was viral and nothing to be concerned about when they brought their son in for examination, they said. But following six months of going back and forth with doctors, as Lennie’s condition had deteriorated, they rushed their son to hospital.
It was there they discovered he had a collapsed lung and pneumonia, and was sedated and placed on a ventilator. The little boy, who had just turned one, required two life-saving operations but went on to be discharged and made a complete recovery.
Now four years old, his parents campaign for greater awareness and dad Charlie is running the London Marathon in support of Evelina London Children’s Hospital, the hospital that saved Lennie’s life.
Lennie’s parents were told their son’s ‘rattly’ breath was just a viral infection caught at nursery(Image: SWNS)
Charlie, a lorry mechanic, said: “Lennie always seemed to be getting unwell, and he didn’t sleep well at night. We put it down to the nursery where he was in contact with lots of other children.
“Doctors agreed it was viral and would clear on its own, but when we took him out of nursery he was still getting ill in the same way. After six months, we said enough was enough, and took him to hospital.
“They told us, ‘you need to prepare for things to get worse before they get better’. Getting that news, it was hard to process. We were told he was the sickest child in the hospital. But he perked up quickly after his operations – and after a year of regular checks, he was signed off completely.”
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Proud parents Charlie and Abbie were overjoyed when Lennie arrived on October 22, 2021. However, from just six months old, they began noticing a worrying pattern of persistent colds and chest infections taking hold.
Initially, they put his frequent illnesses down to exposure to germs at nursery, and their GP apparently reassured them the symptoms would resolve themselves naturally. Yet when they withdrew him from nursery, his health showed no signs of improvement, prompting the concerned parents to make increasingly frequent GP appointments.
Charlie explained: “Every time his illness cleared up, it would start again. We were back and forth with the doctors for months, and after being told yet again it was just viral, we decided enough was enough and took him to Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), in November 2022.
“They checked his chest and told us he had a collapsed lung and pneumonia. He was struggling to breathe and it was putting a lot of pressure on his heart. It went downhill very quickly for him. He was almost gasping every breath. And he was so tiny.”
Lennie in hospital(Image: SWNS)
He was placed on a ventilator at QEH before being transferred to Evelina the next day, where he was admitted to paediatric intensive care. It was then discovered he also had empyema — a build-up of fluid on his lung.
Charlie said: “You can never prepare for that news. You hear the stories, but you never expect it to happen to your own family.”
Little Lennie underwent an initial operation to drain the fluid from his lungs, followed by a second procedure to clear the remaining infection and secure his lung to the inside of his ribcage, preventing it from collapsing once more. Fortunately, once the drain was removed, Lennie bounced back rapidly and was soon well enough to go home.
He attended regular check-ups for a year afterwards, and when he was finally discharged from Evelina, the family were overjoyed to hear that his lung function had fully recovered, with very little risk of complications in the future.
A GP reportedly told them that Lennie’s illnesses would clear up on their own(Image: SWNS)
Since then, Abbie welcomed a second son, Louie, in August 2024, who is now 18 months old. Charlie said: “Lennie is so good now, he has a massive personality and keeps us on our toes. He’s a great brother, he and Louie go everywhere together, they’re always side by side.” Charlie is currently preparing for the London Marathon on April 26 and is collecting donations for Evelina. He continued: “Training is getting there, it’s hard with the kids and work.
“But Lennie will be there when I cross the finish line, along with the whole family. It will be emotional – we’ll never be able to fully repay Evelina for what they did for our family.”
Charlie’s fundraiser: https://www.justgiving.com/page/charlie-king-london2026