A GRATEFUL Quarry Bank mum has spoken out for the first time to praise staff at Birmingham Children’s Hospital for saving the life of her son.

Adam Jamil has been admitted to the department a staggering 40 times for urgent treatment during his short life.

The youngster’s problems first started when he was just six months old.

Mum Heather Silvers says she knew something was horribly wrong when Adam started to turn yellow and swollen, but medics at Russells Hall Hospital sent him home twice - claiming she was a paranoid mother.

Desperate to help her sick son, she rushed him straight to Birmingham Children’s Hospital where he was diagnosed with a life-threatening kidney condition within an hour.

Heather, of School Road, said: “A nurse took one look at him, all puffed up and drowsy and knew something was very wrong.

“He was whizzed through to the kidney specialists, and was diagnosed with Nephrotic Syndrome.

“They saved his life because he had been drowning in his own fluids.”

Adam spent the next three months in hospital while the kidney specialists gave him a battery of tests as they tried to understand his condition which meant his kidney was leaking protein and his body was retaining fluids.

Adam, who attends Temple Meadow Primary in Cradley Heath, is now seven and although his condition has stablised thanks to treatment he still suffers bouts of horrible swelling around six times a year.

During the episodes he can wake up a stone heavier than when he went to bed with his eyelids so swollen they come over his eyes.

Heather said: ”Often he is struggling to breathe, which is very frightening for all of us, particularly him.

“He’s had 40 emergency admissions over the years, the latest a few months ago. He usually spends two weeks in hospital afterwards.

“I can’t speak highly enough of the excellent care he’s had, everyone at Birmingham Children’s Hospital is incredibly friendly and supportive; they’ve known us ever since he was a baby so we all go back a long way.”

Paula Clark, chief executive of the Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which Russells Hall Hospital comes under, said: “The Trust is unable to comment on individual patients due to patient confidentiality.

“Our patients and their carers should expect to be treated with the utmost dignity and respect at all times while in our care.

“We would welcome hearing from Adam’s family so we can investigate their concerns.”