By Kate Pounds

A couple say they experienced a “living nightmare” when their newborn spent 10 days in a coma after contracting whooping cough.

At just two-weeks-old Polly Deehy suddenly turned blue and stopped breathing.

After four days of coughing at home, the tot was rushed to Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford.

However, she kept deteriorating and had to be put on a ventilator in an induced coma.

Polly is now awake and breathing independently.

Kerry Pearson and her partner, Jack Deehy, knew nothing about whooping cough when their baby was diagnosed.

The mum from Bexley says her daughter was lucky to have come through the illness unscathed.

"I've never been more relieved in my life,” the 26-year-old said.

"I watched them take the tubes out and turn all the machines off [as she recovered] – it was the best thing ever.

"The odds were not in her favour but she's been very, very lucky.

"There's no evidence of any lasting problems but she might have a bit of weakness in her lungs – time will tell.”

She added: "Yesterday we were allowed to hold her for the first time in 10 days. It was the most amazing cuddle.

"This has been an absolute living nightmare. We feel so blessed that she's such a little fighter.”

Whooping cough is a bacterial infection that generally doesn't respond to antibiotics.

Cases in the UK have risen in the last decade but have been going down since a vaccine was introduced in the 1950s.

Most people make a full recovery but the illness can be fatal for up to 3% of babies under three-months-old.

The illness can cause kidney problems and brain damage in babies who survive it.

Kerry said: "I knew nothing about whooping cough – it was just something from my grandparents' era.

"There's no treatment and no cure. We're just having to wait and it's unbearable.

"If I'd had the vaccine during my pregnancy I'd have passed on the antibodies in my breastmilk.”

Kerry had a whooping cough vaccine when she was a child and again during her pregnancy with her son, now seven.

She claims she wasn't offered the vaccine when pregnant with Polly.

"I just want people to be aware,” the mum added. “You should have the whooping cough vaccine when you're pregnant.

"If you're not offered it then please demand it. If you're an anti-vaxxer please reconsider – this is deadly to infants – it's not worth the risk.

"Nothing is worth going through what we're going through."

Polly was born on Tuesday, March 26, after an uncomplicated labour.

Back home Kerry started feeling ill with chills, a headache and a very rattly cough.

Polly was very congested and got a rattly cough on Saturday, April 6.

Four days later the tot turned blue and stopped breathing. After being rushed to hospital, she was put on an oxygen-flow machine in a paediatric ward.

She was then moved to a CPAP machine, which pushed oxygenated air into her lungs.

However her breathing kept stopping, so she was taken to St Mary's Hospital in London where she was put on a ventilator in an induced coma.

Tests for whooping cough, also known as pertussis, came back positive the next day.

Polly was slowly taken off the life-support and is now able to breathe independently.

She was woken from her coma and came out of the intensive care unit last Wednesday (April 24).

Kerry says her daughter is still coughing but medics are confident she can go onto a pediatric ward soon.

"We caught it in time so she was in hospital, but if she'd had those blue episodes at home she'd have suffered lasting damage because of the lack of oxygen," she added.

Whooping cough lasts about six weeks – it begins with cold-like symptoms of a runny nose which are followed by bouts of intense coughing with a characteristic sound which gives the illness its name.