Dancing on Ice star Ben Hanlin has opened up about his terror after his baby daughter, Delilah, was taken very ill with sepsis in early February. Speaking to The Sun about the incident, Ben explained: "She had mottled skin and a temperature of 103. Doctors managed to bring it down with glucose and antibiotics, but we were still in hospital for days. It was terrifying. She was hooked up to tubes and put on a drip which is something no parent ever wants to see. The whole thing was a huge shock. Luckily, Delilah responded really well to the treatment and she's now been given the all clear. We couldn't be more relieved."
Little Delilah is now fully recovered
The celebrity magician also revealed that Delilah was very close to being in a very serious condition, saying: "The doctors said if we had called the ambulance just half an hour later, it could have been a completely different story. Delilah only responded so well because we called 999 so quickly." Thankfully, due to his baby daughter's swift recovery, Ben continued to perform on the popular ice skating reality show.
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Speaking on Loose Women, he opened up about exactly how he found out his daughter was ill. He said: "I was at a gig, I was about to go on stage and I got a phone call from my wife Briony who said, 'I've just called an ambulance'… I literally just said, 'I can't do this gig,' got in the car and as I pulled up there was an ambulance on the drive… She was struggling to breathe, her hands and feet were going blue. They didn't mess about." He also opened up about the importance of knowing the symptoms of the illness. He said: "I'll be honest, I knew zero. It was not on my radar. The worst thing you can do when you are sat in hospital, I started googling it and I started reading and I’m there going, ‘Oh right, this is serious serious'… Any parents that go through the same thing, call 111 or 999 and get the ambulance."
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According to Sepsis Trust, symptoms to look out for in children include if he or she is breathing very fast, has a convulsion, looks mottled, bluish or pale, has a rash that doesn't fade when pressed, is very lethargic or difficult to wake and feels abnormally cold to touch. If the child is under five, it is also important to look out for if he or she isn't feeding, is vomiting repeatedly or hasn't passed urine in 12 hours.