4-year-old suffers stroke after common childhood…
A four-year-old was hospitalized for two months after struggling a stroke — which was possible triggered by a common childhood sickness she’d picked up months before.
Olivia Elliot, now 5, woke up vomiting and complaining of a headache in June 2025 but her mom, Rebecca, 31, initially thought she had just picked up a bug.
But when the tot toppled on one facet and couldn’t grip her mom’s hand, she was rushed to hospital and her condition quickly deteriorated.
Olivia Elliot suffered a stroke months after contracting chickenpox, which docs consider triggered extreme inflammation in one of her main arteries and precipitated the stroke. Rebecca Elliott / SWNS
After CT scans, MRI scans, blood checks and a lumbar puncture, docs confirmed the four-year-old had suffered a stroke.
They found extreme inflammation in one of the main arteries supplying her neck, which specialists consider had been triggered by the chickenpox virus she contracted in Christmas 2024.
Olivia quickly misplaced motion down the left facet of her physique, her speech turned slurred and one facet of her face drooped. She spent virtually eight weeks in hospital before starting the long highway to recovery.
“I didn’t think children as young as four could have strokes,” Rebecca, who is from West Lothian, Scotland said.
“She had chickenpox in December, just before Christmas. She had lots of spots, but she wasn’t unwell, really. I thought we’d had an easy case.”
Olivia was born 9 weeks untimely and was later recognized with gentle cerebral palsy after mind injury was detected as a child.
Despite years of physiotherapy, Rebecca says Olivia’s dedication helped her develop into more and more unbiased.
“She’d worked so hard to get to where she was,” Rebecca said.
When she toppled on one facet and couldn’t grip her mom’s hand, she was rushed to hospital and her condition quickly deteriorated. Rebecca Elliott / SWNS
But shortly before Christmas, Olivia caught chickenpox. After making a full recovery, the household had no motive to assume something was incorrect. Then, six months later, every thing modified.
Rebecca remembers her husband waking her after discovering Olivia being sick. Olivia had been throwing up clear liquid, which Rebecca thought was odd, and she began complaining of a headache.
The pair determined to keep at home for a “sick” day. But when Olivia couldn’t sit up on the couch and saved falling onto her left facet, Rebecca grew nervous.
They determined to play darts, but Olivia, who is left-handed, couldn’t grab the dart with her left hand. Initially, Rebecca questioned if it was linked to Olivia’s cerebral palsy.
“I started screaming, ‘Something’s not right. Something’s happening to Olivia,’” her mom said. Rebecca Elliott / SWNS
“I put my finger into her hand and said, ‘Can you grab Mummy’s hand?’ She couldn’t do it,” she said.
Rebecca called her business accomplice — whose speciality is mind accidents — and adopted her advice to immediately take Olivia to the emergency room at St. John’s Hospital in Livingston.
While seeing the doctor, Rebecca remembers that Olivia had an “unexplainable episode” while sitting in her mom’s lap — but Rebecca knew one thing was incorrect.
“I started screaming, ‘Something’s not right. Something’s happening to Olivia,’” she said.
As Olivia’s speech turned slurred and one facet of her face started to droop, she was transferred by blue-light ambulance to Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Children for specialist treatment.
Olivia’s speech turned slurred and one facet of her face started to droop. Rebecca Elliott / SWNS
The largest shock got here after Olivia woke from her MRI scan and might no longer transfer the left facet of her physique.
“Her face was so drooped. It was heart-breaking. She couldn’t eat or speak,” she said. “The most heart-breaking thing for me was looking at her. She didn’t look like Olivia at all.”
Doctors carried out in depth investigations before figuring out inflammation in one of Olivia’s main mind arteries, which they linked to the earlier chickenpox infection. She started enhancing after beginning antibiotics.
Doctors also reassured the household the stroke was unrelated to Olivia’s cerebral palsy, although her current condition made rehabilitation more difficult.
Olivia remained in the hospital for eight weeks from June 29 until August 11, 2025 before finally returning home.
She started enhancing after beginning antibiotics. Rebecca Elliott / SWNS
Just days after being discharged, Olivia began elementary college.
Though she didn’t need a wheelchair before her stroke, she relied on one at college while rebuilding her strength. Rebecca initially attended college as her one-on-one help.
Now 5 years previous, Olivia is strolling independently around the home and makes use of a walker at college. Rebecca believes her years of physiotherapy before the stroke helped put together her for rehabilitation.
“Because she was already used to physio and hospital appointments, she fell into recovery really naturally,” she said. “She never complains. She just gets on with it. She’s such a tough kid. She’s such a happy kid.”
Rebecca also based Olivia’s Steps Foundation to help households of kids with disabilities.
Though she didn’t need a wheelchair before her stroke, she relied on one at college while rebuilding her strength. Rebecca initially attended college as her one-on-one help. Rebecca Elliott / SWNS
“Our journey is such a sad one, but it’s led me to something so rewarding,” she said.
Her message to other dad and mom is simpleL “Her main symptoms were vomiting and a headache. Which you don’t associate with strokes. Most people think of the ‘BE FAST’ analogy.”
BE FAST stands for normal stroke warning indicators: steadiness, eyes, face, arms and speech — and time, the instruction to call emergency providers immediately.
“Life is so busy and issues are so simply skipped by. Strokes can occur at any age, at any time.
“In the first two weeks that she was in [the] hospital, we met two households who’s kids had had strokes. One little boy was on his second. This is one thing that occurs to people.
“If something doesn’t feel right, trust your instincts.”
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