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A 6-year-old from Rotorua living in Australia faces relearning to walk and a potential hip replacement after developing sepsis, his mum says.
Kiwi friends have rallied behind Brisbane-based Roimata Forde, 30, and her two sons after her youngest, Iraia Harding, fell down a set of three stairs while playing at a friend’s house on September 20.
Forde said Iraia – a healthy boy on the autism spectrum – was “sore” that evening but otherwise “okay”.
The following day, however, Iraia could not move and was in more pain.
Iraia Harding, 6, from Rotorua was admitted as an inpatient at Logan hospital in Brisbane with a sepsis infection on September 22.
She said they saw doctors at a clinic twice that weekend as Iraia’s condition worsened.
“Iraia thought it was his knee, but the pain was radiating in his leg, on his upper right thigh.
“Then he started getting fevers, vomiting. He was sweating and just in a lot of pain, he couldn’t really move his leg at all,” Forde said.
She said she was advised to give Iraia rest and wait for ultrasound results due on Wednesday, but after hearing her son scream in pain she decided he could not “wait that long”.
Fearing sepsis – having seen her mum go through it – she rushed Iraia to Logan Hospital on Sunday evening.
She said he was admitted and diagnosed with sepsis in his right hip joint. Sepsis is also know as blood poisoning and results from an abnormal immune response to an infection.
Iraia Harding,6, fell while playing with neighbourhood mates on Friday, September 20, he now faces months of rehab due to a resulting sepsis infection.
Forde said Iraia had since had two surgeries to flush the infected area. She said it appeared his body initially rejected antibiotics but thankfully they were now starting to have an impact.
As of Tuesday, Iraia was still “unable to bear [his own] weight or sit up properly from a laying position”, Forde said.
She was waiting for doctors to determine whether he would need a hip replacement.
She said her mum was still recovering from her sepsis illness two years on.
“She’s still not healed and on bed rest.
“This is a life-threatening condition where people have lost their lives as well as limbs if not treated in time,” Forde wrote on Instagram.
Humbling support for a solo māmā
Forde’s friends launched a Givealittle page on Saturday for the family, who moved from Rotorua to Australia last year.
On Monday the supporters managed to organise Forde’s eldest, Te Winika, who has autism, a plane ticket back to Rotorua to stay with family while Forde nursed Iraia.
“He was spending every day confined to the hospital’s four walls with everything going on. Grateful,” she posted on her Instagram.
A massage therapist who specialised in sports and deep tissue work, she also posted, “I’ve rehabilitated everyone else’s bodies for the last seven years and now it’s time to rehabilitate my own son”.
Forde said that prior to the accident she was studying nursing Monday-Wednesday and managing a body contouring clinic on Thursday-Sunday.
When Iraia fell ill, however, she had to ask to put her nursing studies on hold, leave her job and put off her start date for a new massage therapist job by a week.
Rotorua friend, Vegas actor Cian Elyse White, started the Givealittle page.
She told the Rotorua Daily Post Forde was nicknamed “Sarah Connor” after The Terminator movie character.
“She is fiercely driven and self-sufficient and would never do this for herself or think to ask for this type of support.”
Another friend Tatiana Te Kowhai posted a joint video on Instagram asking for help on Forde’s behalf.
“Girl’s facing major burnout from juggling her job, her nursing studies, her eldest son who is also high-needs and now her son who is in a life-threatening condition.”
“Sorry girl, we had to do it because you wouldn’t, arohanui from Chaka,” Te Kowhai said in the post, which had been viewed more than 60,000 times.
The Givealittle page had already reached over $9000 with a goal of $10,000.
Funds were to cover general living costs while Forde took time off work to be with Iraia.
What is sepsis
Sepsis is an illness caused by an abnormal immune response to an infection.
Also known as blood poisoning or septicaemia, it can lead to tissue damage, organ failure and death.
It kills 11 million people each year including 4.2 million children.
In New Zealand, it is more likely to impact Māori and Pacific people.
Symptoms to watch out for
Slurred speech or confusion, or difficult to wake
Extreme shivering or muscle pain
Passing no urine (pee/mimi) for a day
Severe breathlessness or breathing very fast
It feels like you are going to die
Skin mottled, bluish, or pale or feels abnormally cold to touch (especially in children)
Aleyna Martinez is a multimedia journalist based in the Bay of Plenty. She moved to the region in 2024 and has previously reported in Wairarapa and at Pacific Media Network.
