Mamma Mia miracle girl
LITTLE Layla Towsey’s family was told to give her a final kiss goodbye when she fell into a coma after being struck down by meningitis.
Yet five days later she came round singing the words to the Abba hit Mamma Mia.
Her overjoyed mother Katy Towsey, who now calls three-year-old Layla her little miracle, said: “I couldn’t believe it.
“We’d been preparing ourselves for the worst but as soon as I heard her singing Mamma Mia quietly, I knew she was going to be all right.”
Layla, an only child, suffered a heart attack within two hours of being taken into hospital.
Katy, 23, of Gidea Park, Essex, said: “Layla had been staying with my mum when she began being sick and was delirious.
“When I picked her up she didn’t recognise me and had a really high temperature. I also noticed a rash on her leg which was really dark.”
She took her to hospital in Romford, but a doctor told her it was probably just heat rash and not to worry. Katy insisted on seeing a paediatrician.
She said: “Layla was so delirious. She was saying weird things and I knew something was wrong.”
After her heart attack, Layla was transferred to St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, west London, where she was put on life support.
Katy, who was joined by Layla’s father Jay Malik, 28, and her partner Paul Volckman, 27, recalled: “Before they put her in the ambulance we were told to give her a kiss goodbye. It was an awful moment.”
Within a few days of coming round Layla, who was diagnosed with meningitis B and meningococcal septicaemia, was breathing on her own.
Now she has made a good recovery with just some scarring on her legs from the blood poisoning.
Katy said Layla learned the words to Mamma Mia after seeing the film starring Meryl Streep.
She added: “It’s definitely one of her favourite songs. She’s seen the film and loves it.”