{"id":487704,"date":"2026-03-21T13:47:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T13:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/487704\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T13:47:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T13:47:17","slug":"i-thought-my-son-just-had-a-sickness-bug-but-the-truth-was-far-more-sinister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/487704\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I thought my son just had a sickness bug \u2014 but the truth was far more sinister’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hudson Reid, from Kilwinning, Ayrshire, was just two when a severe sickness bug led to dehydration which caused a blood clot and bleed on his brain \u2014 but he made a miraculous recoveryStephen Bark Reporter, Bradley Jolly<\/a> Overnight News Editor and Emily Phillips<\/p>\n

01:39, 21 Mar 2026<\/p>\n

\"Amber<\/p>\n

Amber Davidson, pictured with son Hudson Reid, has shared her harrowing story(Image: Amber Davidson \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n

A mum<\/a> has issued a warning after her toddler “nearly died” when a sickness bug triggered a life-threatening stroke.<\/a><\/p>\n

Hudson Reid was just two years old when he fell ill with what mum Amber Davidson, 29, assumed was simply a sickness bug after he was vomiting and “couldn’t keep fluids down”. When Amber, though, noticed her tot’s arm was “stuck up”, his legs were “shooting out straight” and he was making “weird<\/a>” noises, she rushed Hudson to hospital.<\/p>\n

Amber says “within five minutes” Hudson had five doctors working on him attempting to resuscitate her son after he lost consciousness during the journey to the hospital. Despite a clear CT scan, Hudson remained unconscious for the next five days and an MRI revealed he had a “massive” blood clot and bleed on his brain which had triggered a stroke, reports the Daily Record<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He was rushed to Glasgow Children’s ICU the following day after a neurologist discovered the clot was caused by “one in a billion” dehydration from his sickness bug, causing his blood to thicken.<\/p>\n

Little Hudson spent four weeks in hospital and was given blood transfusions and put on blood thinners, and despite being told he’d never “walk, talk or move again”, he was up walking within a week.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Devoted dad suffers heart attack while playing football with his two children<\/a>READ MORE: Liev Schreiber: Ray Donovan actor rushed to hospital after ‘massive’ headache<\/a>\"Two<\/p>\n

Hudson with brother Leo(Image: Amber Davidson \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Amber, seen with sons Hudson, Leo and Ezra, wants to help other parents(Image: Amber Davidson \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n

Now seven years old, Hudson is attending school and isn’t letting “anything phase him” despite his brain being damaged from the severity of his stroke. Mum Amber reveals that the effects of the stroke “impacts him a lot” in terms of his movement – he frequently falls over and has speech difficulties, but she insists he leads “pretty much a normal life”.<\/p>\n

Amber, a self-employed beauty therapist from Kilwinning, Ayrshire<\/a>, said: “He’s a complete miracle. Even the doctors are blown away with him he’s proved everyone wrong.<\/p>\n

“I first noticed his arm that day. He was making a noise, not a cry but just a weird noise. I videoed him and sent it to my mother-in-law to see if she had any idea what was happening and because I know it’s common for kids to have seizures so thought it might be that.<\/p>\n

“I phoned the doctors and said I think he’s having a seizure. They said they’d get a doctor to phone me back. Before they phoned me I just looked at him and took him to the hospital. Within five minutes there were five doctors working on him. They were trying to resuscitate him – he was dying in front of us.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Amber wanted the media to use this image of Hudson in hospital(Image: Amber Davidson \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n

Hudson fell ill in September 2021 and when Amber noticed the unusual symptoms, she sent a video to her mother-in-law and called her GP for advice – Amber says they told her a doctor would call her back.<\/p>\n

A concerned Amber took her son to A&E, suspecting he might be having a seizure, but CT scans came back clear. He was admitted to the ward unconscious and didn’t wake up for five days, falling into a seizure each time he tried.<\/p>\n

An MRI scan the following day revealed he had a blood clot and bleeding on the brain. Amber said: “The hospital told us there was nothing else they could do and that he was an unwell wee boy.<\/p>\n

“The last hope was sending the videos I took to a professor in Glasgow – he’s a neurologist and says it was a one in a billion chance Hudson had dehydration from his sickness bug that caused his blood to thicken and caused the bleed on his brain.<\/p>\n

“Hudson was rushed to Glasgow Children’s and was in the ICU having blood transfusions, blood thinners, everything to do with strokes.<\/p>\n

“We were told Hudson wouldn’t walk, talk or move again. Within a week he was up and about. He still has a wee speech impediment and brain damage but he’s here, alive, walking and talking.”<\/p>\n

\"\"What is a stroke? <\/p>\n

A stroke occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off, causing a brain injury, disability or death as brain cells begin to die.<\/p>\n

The life-threatening medical condition requires urgent treatment, as the sooner a person receives treatment, the less damage is likely to happen.<\/p>\n

Treatment can include medication or even surgery. Survivors are often left with long-term problems caused by injury to their brain.<\/p>\n

What are the symptoms?<\/p>\n

The main symptoms can be remembered with the word ‘fast’, the NHS<\/a> says.<\/p>\n

Face – the face may have dropped on one side or the person may not be able to smileArms – the person may not be able to lift both arms and keep them there due to weakness or numbnessSpeech – their speech may be slurred or garbled, or they may not be able to talk at allTime – dial 999 immediately if you notice any of these signs or symptoms<\/p>\n

What are the causes?<\/p>\n

The two main causes are ischaemic (the blood supply is stopped because of a blood clot) and haemorrhagic (a weakened blood vessel supplying the brain bursts).<\/p>\n

The NHS says 85 per cent of all cases are ischaemic.<\/p>\n

A ‘mini-stroke’, known as a transient ischaemic attack, occurs when the blood supply to the brain is temporarily interrupted. It also requires immediate treatment.<\/p>\n

How to prevent a stroke?<\/p>\n

Conditions that can increase the risk of having a stroke include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, atrial fibrillation and diabetes.<\/p>\n

People can significantly reduce their risk by leading a healthy lifestyle.<\/p>\n

The NHS suggests eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, drinking alcohol in moderation and not smoking.<\/p>\n

Hudson spent four weeks in hospital recovering and required feeding through an NG tube for six months as he couldn’t eat by mouth due to the stroke affecting his oral movement.<\/p>\n

Now, Hudson receives occupational therapy every six months, sees a dietician monthly and attends speech and language therapy weekly. He also visits hospital twice yearly for check-ups and undergoes regular blood tests and heart scans.<\/p>\n

Amber said: “His movement is great but he does fall a lot and as he progresses is the point we’ll see how brain damaged he is going to be. We’re now at the point where other kids are progressing and Hudson is not and his brain damage is more apparent.<\/p>\n

“We’re just taking it day by day just to see how he’s going to react. It’s just a waiting game. He’s such a sweet loving wee boy and has a heart of gold. He doesn’t let anything phase him.”<\/p>\n

Amber is keen to raise awareness of strokes in children caused by sickness bugs, admitting she wasn’t familiar with the warning signs. I think it’s the stigma that strokes happen to older people,” she explains.<\/p>\n

“Obviously there’s a lot of awareness of strokes with the Face, Arms, Speech thing but I didn’t think a two-year-old would be able to have a stroke which is why in my mind I never even thought that.<\/p>\n

“Even now when I tell people my two year old has had a stroke they say ‘no way’ or ‘I didn’t know a stroke could happen to a child<\/a> that age’.<\/p>\n

“At the time the adrenaline takes over and you go into mum mode. I feel like I was probably doubting myself or thinking ‘am I overreacting?’ before I took him to the hospital. I had no awareness of how severe the situation was.<\/p>\n

“It was only a few months after I thought ‘that actually happened, Hudson actually went through that’ but at the time I was just in mum mode and survival”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hudson Reid, from Kilwinning, Ayrshire, was just two when a severe sickness bug led to dehydration which caused…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3522,59,102,2201,200,2751,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-487704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-daily-record","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-parenting","tag-scotland","tag-stroke","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}