Mira Mohamed Karem Eisawy

Our darling daughter Mira was born on November 18th, 2007 at 10.48 am. It was the proudest, happiest
day of our lives. She was just over a week late, and weighed in at a healthy 8lb.

Mira was perfect, beautiful - a tiny version of her daddy, with loads of gorgeous dark hair. She was
a model baby, so peaceful and content. We had no sign that she was going to be snatched away from us
after just 10 days. She was obviously far too special for this world.

After Mira was born, I developed tonsilitis and was kept in hospital for 4 days under observation
and so they could give me antibiotics. There were a few delays as the maternity ward was so busy,
and I ended up getting worse rather than better. On the day I left hospital, I developed my first
ever cold sore. I asked the midwife who was looking after me if there was any treatment or if it was
dangerous. She told me it was just because I was rundown after the birth and lack of sleep from
being in a ward full of screaming babies (not Mira, of course - she was always so good and never
cried ;-) ). There was no treatment as it was a viral infection and it would just go away on its
own. It did - it disappeared after a day - almost as quickly as it had come, and I didnt think
anything more about it until after Mira died and it was suggested as a possible cause.

Anyway, Mira seemed perfectly healthy when she was born and a very placid, peaceful, content baby.
She hardly ever cried, but we just thought we were lucky and that she was laid back, chilled out
half-Egyptian baby! We settled her in well at home, and were loving every minute of being a new
little family of three. Even up until the day before she died, we were unaware that there was
anything even slightly wrong with her. She wasnt feeding very well, but we were told this was quite
normal in newborns and that she would settle into a pattern before too long and that it was nothing
to worry about.

She became ill very suddenly, and although she had been seen by two doctors and a midwife on the day
she died, nobody realised she was actually a very sick little girl. Her symptoms were so
non-specific - poor feeding, restlessness, a slightly sticky eye - conditions seen in thousands of
newborn babies and more often than not absolutely no cause for concern. What we didn’t know was
that possibly even before birth, an infection was creeping its way through all of her internal
organs and only became apparent when it was about to totally overwhelm her tiny body.

Five weeks later, we had the results from Mira s post mortem - the cause of death was disseminated
Herpes Simplex Virus 1, contracted during or at the time of birth, with staphylococcus aureus
septicemia as the secondary cause of death. What this means in plain English is that she died from
the common cold sore virus that is present in 85% of adults. Only 6 babies a year die from this here
in the UK, it is so so rare it is almost unheard of.

My GP told me that because it was my first ever cold sore, I would not have had any antibodies in my
blood to pass onto Mira before the birth and that was why she wasnt protected and so vulnerable.
They said it was so rare for me to be developing my first ever cold sore at my age, which is why the
midwives would not have thought it was any risk at all to my baby.

We miss her so much, a light has gone off in our lives and everything seems so empty and lonely
without our Little Bear.

Sleep tight, little lady. Stay close to us always, keep safe in Gods arms and play nicely with the
other tiny angel babies until we meet again, inshallah

xxxxxxxxxxx