Little Peyton Maguire is happy, healthy and ready to start school – five years after she was thought be Scotland’s youngest COVID patient.
Mum Tracy and dad AJ were shocked when NHS Lanarkshire staff diagnosed their three-week-old baby with the virus in April 2020.
At that point in the pandemic, she was believed to be the youngest child with the virus.
Born eight weeks premature, Peyton bounced back after treatment at University Hospital Wishaw and now can’t wait to begin classes at Aitkenhead Primary School in her home town of Uddingston.
“The headteacher has joked that they’re about to have a celebrity join the school,” laughed Tracy, 32, recalling how news of the tiny COVID patient reached newspapers and TV shows across the globe.
Five-year-old Peyton, a fashion fan who also loves gymnastics and drawing, knows about her brush with international fame but just finds the whole thing very funny.
But for Tracy and AJ, 34, it was a traumatic period and they’re grateful that the expert care she received ensured she had no long-term health problems after the virus attacked her at such a young age.
Tracy said; “She’s great except for a touch of asthma – it’s a real tribute to the staff who looked after her. I was so moved when I found out some of them had to live away from their own children during the pandemic but were caring for my baby.”
Peyton was delivered early by caesarean section after Tracy was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, a condition that affects pregnant women. The newborn was being cared for in an incubator in the neonatal unit when Tracy and AJ were told the alarming news that she’d tested positive for COVID after being screened for a range of viruses.
Tracy recalled: “We were told we’d have to stay away from Peyton for 14 days and isolate at home but I pleaded not to be apart from my baby for that long. The staff kindly agreed I could to isolate with her in the hospital while AJ stayed at home.
“Watching the staff at work was incredible. They put their lives at risk to make sure my baby was getting fed and cuddled. Even wearing their PPE, they were determined to hold her.
“I found the same compassion when I had my second daughter, Harley, who’s nearly two now. She was also premature and needed extra care. Peyton was able to visit me and Harley in the maternity unit during the day and the staff were very happy to see her again.”
Peyton, who predicts her favourite school subject will be break time, is delighted to have added to her wardrobe with a new red dress as her school uniform for summer. She also has a schoolbag in her favourite colour, pink, ready for the start of term on 14 August.
“We’ve been in so many papers, magazines and TV shows,” said Tracy, who, along with AJ, is a boxing coach.
“But the most worthwhile thing her story has led us to do was taking part in a conference for neonatal nurses, where I shared my experience.
“I was also amazed when a woman tapped me on the shoulder in the street and told me she’d read my story and it was the only reason she’d felt confident to go to hospital to have her baby during the pandemic.”
Cheryl Clark, NHS Lanarkshire Director of Midwifery, said: “We all remember Peyton so well, as caring for a newborn with COVID was a new experience for us all at that point.
“It’s great to hear how she’s doing and hard to believe that tiny, vulnerable baby is now a lively five-year-old who’s about to go to school.”
