Karl Stefanovic’s daughter rushed to hospital
Karl Stefanovic has issued a grave warning to parents after his daughter was rushed to hospital in a terrible condition.
The Today co-host teared up as he spoke about the terrifying ordeal which saw him and wife Jasmine rush two-year-old Harper to hospital.
“Little Harpie, she went downhill. She just had a sniffle and a small cough. Then within six hours, we had her at the GP.
“We gave her Neurofen, Pandadol but her heartbeat went up to 200 and her temperature was at 40 in almost an instant. So it got a hold of her.
“It was only because of a great GP she was able to get on top of it, straight into the ambulance, then to the hospital. She was there overnight.”
Karl said the reason he is speaking about the “really scary” incident is to remind people about our doctors and nurses doing it tough.
“They're just so good at what they do, they were able to sort things out. But there's so many kids out there at the moment who are going through this.
“There were literally thousands of parents in similar situations.
“We are lucky it wasn’t more serious, and we were lucky we had good people around her.”
Karl confirmed baby Harper is now doing much better.
Associate Professor Margie Danchin, a paediatrician at the Royal Children's Hospital, said emergency departments were filled with worried parents and their sick children.
"We don't want parents going to the emergency department waiting six to eight hours if they can go to their GP," she said.
"If a child has breathing difficulty or any blueness around the lips, or any signs of dehydration - if they're not drinking, if they're listless, pale, those are the things that should encourage a parent to take their child to the emergency department.
"But if the child has a fever, cough, runny nose, those sorts of more mild respiratory symptoms, then we would encourage them to access community care first."
Images: The Today Show