DANCING On Ice star Ben Hanlin has been hiding a secret heartache after his seven-month-old daughter was left battling sepsis in hospital.
The 33-year-old dad-of-two suffered six days of hell at Birmingham's Heartlands Hospital as doctors worked round the clock to save little Delilah.
Magician Ben, who even spent a night sleeping on the floor of the ward, told The Sun Online the tot's temperature rocketed to 103 degrees and left her struggling to breathe last week.
But he kept the news quiet as he performed on Dancing On Ice last Sunday after deciding with his family to do the show after Delilah was released from hospital.
He said: "I only told my dance partner Carlotta [Edwards] and the producers what was going on, but my mind has obviously been elsewhere.“The doctors said if we had called the ambulance just half an hour later, it could have been a completely different story. Delilah only responded so well because we called 999 so quickly.”
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8His wife Briony dialled for an ambulance after Delilah seemed to have trouble breathing – with Ben racing back from an awards show he had been due to host.
He said: "She had mottled skin and a temperature of 103. Doctors managed to bring it down with glucose and antibiotics, but we were still in hospital for days.
"It was terrifying. She was hooked up to tubes and put on a drip which is something no parent ever wants to see. The whole thing was a huge shock.
"Luckily, Delilah responded really well to the treatment and she's now been given the all clear. We couldn't be more relieved."
He added: “It’s terrifying because I didn’t know anything about sepsis before.
"I really want to make sure no other parents have to go through this nightmare and they are aware of the signs and know to get help immediately if they spot something is wrong.”
Sepsis, a type of blood poisoning, happens when your body overreacts to an infection and attacks its own organs.
Ben explained he and his family decided he should go ahead with his performance on the show once it was clear Delilah was in a stable condition.
What is sepsis?
Sepsis (also known as blood poisoning) is the immune system’s overreaction to an infection or injury.
Normally our immune system fights infection – but sometimes, for reasons we don’t yet understand, it attacks our body’s own organs and tissues.
Most often the culprit is an infection we all recognise – pneumonia, urinary infections (UTIs), skin infections, including cellulitis, and infections in the stomach, for example appendicitis.
If not treated immediately, sepsis can result in organ failure and death – yet with early diagnosis, it can be treated with antibiotics.
Sepsis can initially look like flu, gastroenteritis or a chest infection.
There is no one sign, and symptoms present differently between adults and children.
If you, a loved one, or in the case of medical professionals their patient, feels "severely sick", doesn't appear to be themselves and shows any of the following symptoms, sepsis should be suspected:
- Weakness
- Loss of appetite
- Fever and chills
- Thirst
- Difficult or rapid breathing
- Rapid heart rate
- Low blood pressure
- Low urine output
If a person is suffering these symptoms and they are thought to have suffered an infection – pneumonia, abdominal infection, urinary infection, or a wound – sepsis is a likely cause.
Source: The UK Sepsis Trust
He said: "I was grateful to focus on something else for a few hours. I’m enjoying being on the show but with Delilah in hospital it really put things into perspective for me.
"I didn’t care about my scores because at the end of the day it’s just TV. All that matters is that my kids are healthy.”
However, despite the nightmare, the magician, who fronted celebrity magic show Tricked, was second on the leaderboard and has been hailed the "dark horse" of the competition.
This week, he and Carlotta have landed the short straw and have been challenged to perform a morris dance on the ice.
Now Delilah has recovered, Ben is going to embark on a live tour and is also teaming up with fellow Dancing On Ice star Joe Swash for a dad-related podcast.
The magician, who also has a two-year-old Son called Elvis, heralded his latest project on Twitter, writing: "We're going to be talking all things dad related (move over mummy bloggers)!
"We've six kids between us, so we know what we're talking about."
See Ben on Dancing On Ice on Sunday from 6pm
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