Teenage boy will be blind in two years after taking single dose of Nurofen for sore throat
WARNING - UPSETTING IMAGES: Calvin Lock, 13, nearly died after his mum gave him a dose of liquid Nurofen
The family of a young boy nearly killed by a single dose of ibruprofen have been dealt a second devastating blow after being told he is going BLIND.
Calvin Lock, 13, came down with a suspected viral infection and was given a single dose of strawberry-flavoured liquid Nurofen by his mother.
But that triggered an extremely rare reaction which caused his body to burst into blisters and his hair and fingernails fell out. Calvin lost 65 percent of his skin and had to be put on a life support machine for three days.
Doctors initially told his family he only had chicken pox before diagnosing Stevens Johnson Syndrome which causes the cells in skin to die before shedding like a snake.
But Calvin's condition worsened and he developed the more serious form of the condition, Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis. He spent nearly three weeks in Addenbrooke's Hospital receiving treatment before being allowed back to his home in Littleport, Cambs.
His mother Robyn Moult, 40, and stepfather Daryn Chambers, 49, were amazed he survived the condition which affects three million people a year.
But they have now been left devastated after revealing Calvin has now developed a painful eye disease that will leave him blind in both eyes within the next two years.
The teen already struggles to see the board at school and can no longer play video games and has to have eye drops put in every hour of every day.
The youngster also suffers chronic fatigue, full body scarring, mouth and throat problems, depression and has been diagnosed with PTSD.
Robyn, who has three older children, said: "It's an autoimmune condition which will never go away. His body will constantly attack itself forever and it's devastating to watch.
"Calvy feels like he has constant grit in his eye, it's extremely painful for him. I try to make him take responsibility but I also don't want to nag, I feel helpless.
"If he forgets to put his eye drops in he's left rolling on the floor in agony. The condition left him with memory loss and this means he frequently does forget.
"He struggles to run around with his friends, it's so much to recover from and he keeps trying to fight it and can't accept that his life has changed.
"His personality is different now, what he went through was so traumatic that he needs treatment for PTSD. "He's so intelligent and bright but now he can't be bothered with school, he doesn't see the point because he doesn't think he has a future without his eyesight."
The couple are now planning legal action against the NHS, claiming the original misdiagnosis has made his condition much worse.
They believe Addenbrooke's could have done more to prevent the infection and its side effects if staff had acted sooner.
The couple say he was twice wrongly diagnosed with chickenpox and a specialist witness employed by their legal team said the diagnosis should have been put to a more senior doctor.
They also believe he would have recovered quicker if he had been transferred straight away to the burns unit in Essex. Robyn said: "There should have been a thorough investigation.
"I'm determined he will have a career and an education, and we want to be able to buy him the equipment he will need, such as audio technology, to help him through life."
Calvin fell ill on September 19 in 2012 with a sore throat and Robyn gave him the Nurofen after his GP said he had a viral infection.
Six days later he returned to the GP with a rash and was diagnosed with chickenpox - which SJS is often mistaken for - and given antibiotics.
The next morning, swelling and rashes had appeared across his body and he was taken to Addenbrooke's Hospital.
Doctors there also diagnosed chickenpox but it took 24 hours to admit him as an in-patient by which time he was struggling to breathe and unable to walk, talk or see.
Calvin was put on a drip as staff started treated more than 200 painful blisters but his condition deteriorated and he was put on a life-support machine.
He was transferred to a burns unit where surgeons removed affected skin from 65 per cent of his body. He now suffers Severe Ocular Surface Disease in both eyes - which causes severe conditions affecting the corneas of his eyes.
The excessive scarring from the reaction caused cornea erosions, mucous membrane scarring affecting his eyelids, and trichiasis, where the eyelashes grow inwards.
He has had to have operations to attempt to fix his sight, electrolysis to rid his eyes of his eyelashes and further surgery to stop his eyelids from turning inwards.
He also has growing vitreous adhesions which causes the gel that fills up the inside of the eye to shrink, liquify and stick to the retina - resulting in blindness.
Calvin will be talking about his experience next year at The House of Commons where we will be campaigning for National SJS Awareness and launching the first NHS Awareness Poster Campaign.
He and his mum have just had their charity SJS Awareness officially registered and started a website sjsawareness.org.uk.
