Parents say 'trust your gut' after infant sent home from hospital later diagnosed with meningitis

Baby has suffered seizures, strokes and is receiving care in London, family says

Kathleen Saylors · CBC News · Posted: Dec 30, 2024

Parents Katelynn Hawes and Quentin Brunelle say they took their daughter to Windsor Regional Hospital after they say their concerns were dismissed at Erie Shores HealthCare. Now, their daughter is being treated for bacterial meningitis at Victoria Children's Hospital in London. (Submitted by Katelynn Hawes)

For Katelynn Hawes and Quentin Brunelle, it should have been their baby's first Christmas celebration at home with her big brother. 

Instead, the family has spent much of the holidays in hospitals as their nearly three-month-old daughter Evalynn battles a case of bacterial meningitis — one they say should have been caught by medical professionals sooner, and has left her with what's feared to be lasting damage. 

Meanwhile, Leamington-area hospital Erie Shores HealthCare has committed to a third-party review of the child's case.

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The family is speaking up as a cautionary tale to other parents: "Trust your gut" and get a second opinion. 

"It's like we're living in a nightmare that we can't wake up from," Hawes said. "Nothing feels real."

Hawes, Evalynn's mom, says her normally bright and perky "perfect" baby started to seem unwell on Christmas Eve, and the family decided to take her in the next day if she hadn't improved.

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