Whooping Cough

My cousin's son was just a few weeks old and developed what everyone thought was a horrible cold. His mom had taken him in to see the Doctor on few occasions and had even taken him to emergency.  They said he probably had caught the cold his older brother had and that it would pass. 

I saw him for the first time after he had been born when we had a family dinner.  He was sitting in his little car seat sleeping. He would wake up and start to cough. It was a deep, chesty, horrible sound coming from such a tiny little baby. He would cough so hard he would turn a blue-gray colour and it looked like he would stop breathing! It was very scary. 

His Mom (my cousin) looked like a wreck. She was exhuasted because she was afraid to go to sleep and not be there for him if something happenend.  We all told her she needed to see a Doctor again and find out what was wrong with him. Soon after they had an episode that brought them again to the emergency department at Victoria General Hospital. 

The Doctor there heard him cough and immediately knew what he had.  Whooping Cough.  He was admitted and spent the next month and a bit in the hospital. It was touch and go for the first 3 weeks and he almost didn't make it, but slowly started to recover.  My cousin did a ton of research about Pertussis during this and of course made sure to get a booster shot, as did his dad, grandparents, etc. As he was too small to get immunized it really hit home on how important herd immunity is!  He has just turned 3 a few months ago and is a happy, healthy litte boy.  The picture is him at around 2 years.