A mum-of-four has praised medics for battling to save her ‘miracle’ baby daughter’s life – as she cheated death when she was struck down with killer sepsis .

Stephanie Howlett was left helpless as ‘pale and floppy’ Summer was rushed to the Royal Stoke University Hospital.

Medics discovered the tot – who was four months old – had sepsis and her parents were warned to ‘expect the worst’.

Frantic Stephanie, 28, had called 999 after picking up Summer from her Moses basket at 9.30pm on Wednesday, May 15, She said: “She was floppy and her skin was really pale. Her eyes were open but she had a vacant stare.

Her parents were told to expect the worst 

“I panicked and rang 999. The paramedics stripped her down to her nappy and told me she had sepsis straight away. Her skin started to go mottled, all over her body.

“I went with her in the ambulance and she was taken to the resuscitation department. I kept asking what was wrong because I wanted to know what had caused it.

“Her temperature was very high. They had to drill into her shin bones because all her body was shutting down. They had to get drugs into her body quickly.

“The doctors and nurses did not think she would pull through. They told me and Summer’s dad to expect the worst.

“There was nothing more they could do for her. We were just crying our eyes out. It was horrible.”

She had to be resuscitated at just five months old 

Stephanie and her 34-year-old partner, William Gallimore, then faced an agonising three-hour wait before they could see their daughter again.

Summer spent a week in the intensive care unit before being transferred to the high dependency unit.

She was discharged on Thursday, May 29.

Summer is due to return to the Royal Stoke on Friday for a kidney x-ray as it is a possibility that an infection in her kidney led to her contracting sepsis.

Summer pulled through and mum Stephanie wants others to know about sepsis 
Stephanie added: “There are so many parents out there who are not aware of sepsis. I wasn’t until going through it with Summer.

“We should have more information about sepsis when we are sent home with our babies. We should be told what to look for and what to do.

“The doctors and nurses said if I had not acted as quickly as I did Summer would not be here now.“Every parent needs to know that if their child is breathing really fast, looking really pale and has a very high temperature it could be sepsis and they should just ring 999.

“All the medics, from the paramedics, the doctors and nurses in resuscitation, the ICU, the HDU and Cheethams ward 216, they were all amazing.

“They reassured us, there were polite and they never got fed up of us asking questions. I cannot praise the care they gave Summer and their professionalism enough. She could not have been in better hands.”