'The sickness was silent' - Rickets caused Telford baby Noah’s death
A Telford mother has been left devastated after her baby son died of Rickets.
Beverley Thahane’s son Noah had been suffering seizures that doctors had been unable to explain.
It was only just before Noah’s death in January 2017 that he was diagnosed with severe vitamin D deficiency.
Speaking to the BBC about her son’s death, Ms Thahane, from Telford, said: “He started changing colour again and I knew he was going to have another seizure but unfortunately it ended up being a heart attack.
“Vitamin D is a silent killer. I am without a child now and the sickness was silent, nobody knew, nobody picked it up.”
Ms Thahane had taken baby Noah to the doctors numerous times before he died.
Rickets is a bone disease which can be caused by Vitamin D deficiency and leads to deformed bones, stunted growth and general ill health. In severe cases it can affect the heart and become fatal.
The disease can also be caused by a lack of calcium and severe malnutrition in the first stages of childhood.
Though the disease was common in Victorian times, it was largely eradicated during the 1950s but has made a comeback in recent years.
Cases have more than doubled in the last decade, with 450 children now diagnosed with the disease every year, though it is still incredibly rare to die from the illness.
Afro-Carribbean and Asian communities are particularly vulnerable because their skin absorbs less sunlight, hampering the body’s ability to produce vitamin D.
Ms Thahane added: “As people of colour we do know that in a country like this, with weather like this, there is not a lot of sunshine.
“But we don’t think much about it, wWe didn’t know the severity of it, that it can actually kill somebody.”
Doctors have been calling for pregnant women and newborn babies to be provided with vitamin D supplements on the NHS, and often advise expectant mothers to consider buying tablets themselves.
The vitamin is naturally produced by the skin after absorbing sunlight, but can also be found in foods such as sardines, mackerel, red meat, liver and eggs.
