THE MOTHER of a Barnsley toddler who fell critically ill after suffering an aneurysm rarely seen in children has spoken of the horrific ordeal and praised the medical teams who saved her son’s life.

Jacob Thistlewood, three, hadn’t been feeling well and parents Kerry and David Thistlewood, of Intake Lane, Gawber, thought he might have mumps.

But he began vomiting violently and was taken to hospital where doctors discovered he had an aneurysm on the main artery that carries blood to the brain.

He underwent emergency surgery to save his life at Leeds Children’s Hospital and spent weeks in intensive care under the careful watch of specialist doctors.

Kerry, 33, said the ordeal began on June 6.

“Jacob started vomiting blood in the kitchen. I phoned 999 and he was taken to Barnsley Hospital where he was sick again. He ended up being transferred to Sheffield and when he was scanned there it showed his carotid artery had a six centimetre aneurysm.”

Read more in this weeks Barnsley Chronicle