Towie star Jessica Wright has revealed her son Presley was rushed to hospital in a “terrifying” health scare.
The 39-year-old shared in an emotional Instagram post on Tuesday that she found her two-year-old looking “limp and lifeless” last week.
The ITV star rushed Presley - who she shares with husband William Lee-Kemp - to A&E as he was refusing to eat, had a “horrific” cough, and was throwing up.
The toddler, who has a rare congenital heart disease, was given Nurofen and sent home - only for his symptoms to worsen.
Wright said she was “frightened beyond belief” watching him battle difficulty breathing, a high temperature, and an incessant cough.
Doctors eventually detected that Presley had a chest or lung infection and sent him home with antibiotics to recover.
Sharing several photos with her son on Instagram, Wright wrote: “This past week has been a tough one for my baby boy & our family. I wanted to share what happened, to reiterate how important it is to go & get them checked when your gut knows something just isn't right.
“It began last Tuesday when he suddenly became limp & lifeless, refusing food & then throwing up in the night. He's been in our bed every night since (something he's never really done that much).
“This sickness turned into a horrific cough , with a temperature, until finally on Friday my mother's instinct kicked in & I took him to a&e. He was sent home as his observations after another dose of Nurofen were 'ok' & they couldn't hear anything suspicious in the lungs.
“At this point, for 48 hours he'd had a temperature & his breathing was rapid, especially during the night, which frightened me beyond belief. Saturday came & he was more lifeless than ever, with no colour in his face still, & hadn't eaten in about 48 hours. (The odd bottle of oat milk but he'd thrown up most.)”
She went on: “I was on my own with him around lunch time & I noticed his cough wasn't letting up, which went on & on & on. I called my mum & husband & said please come here immediately I can sense something isn't right.
“I ran him upstairs not knowing what to do to stop him from coughing like vapo rub & sitting in front of a humidifier but it wasn't stopping until he was then basically asleep. I called 999 & within 8 minutes (thank god) there was an ambulance at our door.'
“He had some RSV which the paramedics noticed & all I could do was cling onto him hoping he was going to be ok. The lady on the call also told me to go & find a defibrillator, & it was at that point I honestly wanted to just collapse.
“He went to hospital with a throat steroid given in the ambulance, which calmed the coughing down but now he was back asleep & his oxygen dropped. I was terrified in that ambulance, something I never want to happen again.”
At the hospital, he was given more throat steroid and after four “very scary and long hours” they saw a doctor, who detected “crackling” at the bottom of Presley’s right lung, indicating a chest or lunch infection.
Presley was put on antibiotics and, within 48 hours, Wright said her son is “up playing with his horses & animals again, has eaten little & often & has his cheeky laugh back”.
She said: “To say I'm relieved is an understatement. I guess I'm just trying to say, don't wait, go to the hospital & get them checked because you never know how these things can escalate & thank god for the doctors & nurses that helped us.”
The TV personality concluded: “Now time to watch my baby be the funny little boy he always is & let him go back to his favourite place, the farm.”
The health scares comes after Wright revealed last August that Presley has been diagnosed with a rare congenital heart disease called “Bicuspid Aortic Valve”.
Bicuspid Aortic Valve affects just one percent of people and means the heart valve has only two small parts, called leaflets, instead of the normal three.
Wright assured her son is doing well and hasn’t needed surgery so far but will require monitoring over time.
She married husband Lee-Kemp in 2021 after two years together and they welcomed Presley in May 2022.
