Sick Simcoe child flown 350 km from home for ICU bed in Kingston

A Simcoe boy in desperate need of intensive care was flown more than 300 km away from home due to nearby children’s hospitals being over capacity.

Four-year-old Remy Rutherford was airlifted to Kingston General Hospital in November after developing a near-fatal infection.

“He’s had a lumbar puncture and he’s had a bone marrow biopsy to confirm his diagnosis, which is that he had Strep A,” his mother Stephanie Rutherford said from a hospital room Monday.

“That caused him to go septic. On top of that, he developed a rare condition called Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH).”

Group A streptococcal infection is a bacterial infection that causes symptoms such as strep throat and scarlet fever. Antibiotics are often used to treat the illness. Strep A can also lead to a life-threatening infection known as sepsis, but it is rare.

Remy was first taken to his local Norfolk General Hospital after he stopped eating, came down with a fever and felt lethargic. He and his mother were then sent home with Advil and Tylenol.

As his symptoms worsened, Rutherford called 911 once again and physicians realized Remy needed to be admitted to a pediatric ICU for treatment.

An ambulance would normally rush to McMaster Children’s Hospital in Hamilton or the Children’s Hospital at London Health Sciences Centre, but both hospitals were full.

Rutherford said their only option was to transport Remy to Kingston General Hospital via an Ornge aircraft.

“I just want parents to keep Remy in mind the next time they head to the polls and they have the chance to vote for Doug Ford so that they keep him in mind and they keep this whole story in mind,” Rutherford told Trending Now on CHCH in an interview.

“This is what happens when you have a government that does not put children first.”

Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones was questioned about Rutherford’s situation. While she said it is “not ideal” for a family to have a child receiving care that far away, Jones praised the air ambulance system in place.

“It’s frankly an example of how our hospitals are working together,” she said.

“But it is also important to appreciate that by doing that air transport, that child was able to be assessed and treated sooner.”

Rutherford said she is grateful for the health-care workers at Kingston General Hospital, however, she is upset that Remy had to receive care far from home.

“We should not have had to come 350 km to get the care that we deserved,” she said.

Rutherford and her husband also have a six-year-old daughter who remains in Simcoe with her father and is struggling with being apart from her mother and brother.

The family hopes that Remy will be transferred to SickKids in Toronto for further treatment and rehabilitation.