6-Month-Old Baby Who Survived Heart Surgery Now Fights for Life After CCP Virus Diagnosis

(Illustration - Min C. Chiu/Shutterstock)

Warning: This article includes content some readers may find disturbing

The parents of a critically ill 6-month-old baby girl battling the CCP virus are urging people to take social distancing measures even more seriously.

When baby Erin Bates was born in October 2019, she had a complication with her windpipe, as well as a heart condition that required surgery, reported the Daily Mail. In January 2020, Erin suffered potentially fatal complications arising from a respiratory syncytial virus.

The strong baby girl was on the road to recovery when, on April 10, 2020, her parents received heartbreaking news. At Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, England, Erin tested positive for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus.

“It’s all very hard to digest now,” Erin’s father, Wayne, 32, told the Lancashire Telegraph. “It doesn’t really feel like it’s happening to us, it feels more like I’m just watching this all as it happens to someone else.”

Upon learning of his baby girl’s diagnosis, Wayne was instructed to self-isolate at the family home in Bury, Greater Manchester, while his wife, Emma, stayed with the couple’s daughter in the hospital.

Shortly after Erin’s diagnosis, Emma, 29, released a distressing photo of her daughter according to BBC. In it, Erin lies in her hospital bed hooked up to a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine with numerous wires and tubes attached to her tiny body.

The main entrance of Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool, northwest England (PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Emma revealed that her continued support of her baby daughter relies upon her not getting sick herself. “If I show any symptoms I will then be taken to another hospital and Erin will be here alone,” she said. “This alone breaks my heart.”

The couple is lauding the incredible efforts of the NHS in caring for their daughter but remain outraged by the not-insignificant fraction of people who are not taking the United Kingdom’s lockdown regulations seriously.

“[It] upsets me,” Wayne explained, according to the Daily Mail. “I take it personally.” The father then regaled seeing a picture of a queue beside an ice cream vendor on the beach, and described public flouting of social distancing regulations as “horrific.”

“People cannot continue to walk around still thinking that they will not get it,” Wayne told the Lancashire Telegraph, further urging people to take social distancing measures seriously. “People need to stay at home, it is the easiest thing ever that we are being asked to do.”

(Illustration - C. Vanrintel/Shutterstock)

Emma and Wayne were once told they might never conceive naturally. Upon Erin’s arrival, after a decade of trying to get pregnant, the couple was “over the moon” to welcome their baby girl into the world.

As of April 13, 2020, Wayne maintains that his daughter is only alive due to the sterling efforts of the staff at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. “All of the doctors and nurses have been really incredible and both Emma and I want to thank them from the bottom of our hearts for all they have done for Erin,” said Wayne.

A pharmacy shows signs reminding us of social distancing on March 23, 2020 in London, England. (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

“Never could we have wished for more kind and caring people to be looking after our baby,” the father continued. “They are all putting their own lives at risk for little reward. We are eternally grateful to them.”

Wayne described the months leading up to baby Erin’s CCP virus diagnosis as “the lowest of the low,” adding that he and Emma had become accustomed to hearing that they may lose their daughter. However, since Erin has already beaten the odds so many times, Wayne reflected, he and Emma remain positive that their little fighter can do it again.

“Erin will be our first and last child,” he said. “She really is a miracle baby for us.”