IT is a staple of any parent’s medicine cabinet.

But baby ibuprofen may have almost killed a Hampshire toddler, who had what’s thought to be a rare and potentially fatal reaction to the medicine.

Finley Kirwan’s parents rushed him to Southampton General Hospital from their home in Fawley when he became ill in late December, having recently been discharged from hospital with severe croup.

But what they thought was tonsillitis turned out to be much more serious.

Overnight the then 15-month-old developed an angry red rash all over his body, which blistered and turned black in parts of his body and left him with an angry wound on his neck.

But the condition – Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS) – is so rare that for days doctors were baffled by what was making him so ill.

“After a few days he was seen by a professor of dermatology, who said ‘the tsunami hasn’t hit him yet – you need to be prepared’,” says mum, Danielle Hart.

“And he was right – he got much worse.”

SJS is a rare but potentially fatal skin condition, usually the result of a reaction to medication or an infection.

Finley’s doctors believe it was triggered in him by liquid ibuprofen that his parents had given him to ease a cough – despite the fact that it was not the first time he had been given the medicine.

It could also have been connected to the herpes simplex virus – possibly a combination of the two.

The news that little Finley was so ill would always have been devastating for his parents, but it was particularly hard for them to take as it came just weeks after he had been seriously ill on life support in intensive care at Southampton General Hospital with severe croup, a condition which affects the windpipe, airways to the lungs and voice box.

The SJS caused Finley’s organs to begin to fail and his parents, Danielle and Dan Kirwan, were warned that he might not survive.

He was on intravenous morphine, anti-viral medication, antibiotics and diuretics and his skin was covered in lotion every two hours.

Finley was in hospital for three weeks, only coming home on January 14.

During that time, Mum Danielle stayed at the hospital – first in Ronald McDonald House and, once he was transferred to a ward, at his bedside.

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His dad, Dan, was also there as much as possible, while Danielle’s older son, 10-year-old Bailey, went to stay with his grandmother.

Danielle can’t praise the facilities and staff at Ronald McDonald House and Southampton General Hospital highly enough.

“Dan stayed at Ronald McDonald House and went to work from there for a week,” says Danielle. “Otherwise, with the cost of petrol and parking, it would have been crippling.”

She adds that the family’s finances have been strained. Danielle, a classroom assistant, has been unable to work since the beginning of December, and Dan, who works in planning, has had to have time off work.

“The staff at Ronald McDonald House and the hospital couldn’t do enough for us and Finley.”

Danielle says Finley’s illness has also placed a strain on the family, particularly as it came so soon after he was last ill, and she feels concerned about both conditions recurring.

“It’s been very draining and it’s been tough on Bailey. He was brilliant to start but he got quite upset about it. He doesn’t hold any grudges against his brother though. They get on so well.”

Danielle says that she and Dan are now hyper-vigilant for any signs of illness in Finley.

“He’s a really happy, smiley boy but we know how quickly he can go downhill,” she says.

“It can be a matter of a few minutes.”

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Born at 29 weeks in October 2014, Finley has had to face numerous health problems already.

This includes being rushed to hospital and put in high dependency units twice for croup.

He has not yet fully recovered from SJS, with the skin on his face, back and tummy flaring up when he is upset, and he is currently suffering bronchiolitis.

“‘Rare’ is Finley’s word,” she says. “Doctors have said it’s rare to be born 11 weeks premature, it’s rare to be intubated with croup and SJS is very rare.”

She adds that the thought that he might have an unusual reaction to medication or an illness has left her and Dan feeling extra-protective of Finley.

“I want to wrap him in a bubble,” she says. “I am nervous about him taking other medication – he was on a lot of medication for croup so perhaps it was one of those drugs that triggered the SJS.”

Now Finley is back home, Danielle and Dan are trying to get life back to normal for Bailey, while being careful not to expose Finley to unnecessary risks.

And they have a message for other parents – to always trust their instincts about their children and not worry about making a fuss over nothing.

“When he kept being ill with croup, I remember wondering if I should really take him to hospital again but then I talked to myself and said ‘if he had been like this the first time, you’d go’,” she says.

“And the medical staff have never made us feel that we’re wasting their time. They’ve said they’d far rather see him and him be OK than us not to take him in.

“When he was ill with what turned out to be SJS, Dan and I were umming and ahhing about whether to take him to hospital but we said ‘something’s not right – we’re going’.”

It was a decision which probably saved Finley’s life.

“You have to trust your instincts,” says Danielle. “You know if your child isn’t right – you have to stick with it.”