Profiles

Here, you can find any of the interviews on this site.



Waj

Waj's daughter was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. She also has sleep apnoea, allergies, and asthma. Her daughter catches a flu-like illnesses every couple of weeks, but recovers slowly because of her asthma.

  • Background

    Waj works part-time in a production factory. She is married, but her husband doesn’t live in England. Waj has a daughter who is 3 years old, and she was given...

  • Age at interview 31
  • Sex/Gender Female
  • Rahma

    Rahma's son was diagnosed with asthma and he also has allergies, including egg allergy which has prevented him from having the flu vaccine. During the winter season, her son catches flu-like illnesses very frequently aggravating his asthma and resulting in chest infection problems. He is currently undergoing assessment for autism and mental health evaluation.

  • Background

    Rahma is a single parent with two children. She, herself, has health issues, including Type 2 diabetes, arthritis and high blood pressure. She is a homemaker. Ethnicity: Somali.

  • Age at interview 58
  • Sex/Gender Female
  • Emma

    Logan is two years old and has complex medical needs: before birth he was diagnosed with Ventricular Septal Defect and muscle build up in artery (recently repaired). He also had surgery to repaired cleft lip and palate and is receiving ongoing care. Diagnosed at birth with asymmetrical chest wall; torticollis with sternomastoid tumour, glue ear and sleep apnea. Jaimie is 6 months old, and has Down's syndrome and was diagnosed before birth with ventriculomegaly with hypoplasia corpus callosum. Emma feels that flu-like illness is a relatively smaller issue in comparison to her children's other conditions.

  • Background

    Emma is the mother of two small children and a home maker. Her husband is an RAF logistics driver. Ethnicity: White British.

  • Age at interview 25
  • Sex/Gender Female
  • Sue

    Amy was born prematurely at 24 weeks and diagnosed with chronic lung disease. She came out of hospital on home oxygen, but eventually she did wean off it and went on to use inhalers. When she was one year old she had surgery to insert a gastrostomy button. Since then and until recently, she has been gastrostomy fed. She also had Nissen fundoplication surgical procedure to treat her gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Amy used to get colds and flu-like illness very frequently, but over the years she has gotten better. At present she is just on vitamins and on a pro-Cal to help her with her calories intake.

  • Background

    Sue is married with three children aged 18, 11 and 10. She is a homemaker. Ethnic background: British.

  • Age at interview 45
  • Sex/Gender Female
  • Harriet

    Alfie was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia [ALL] in August 2012 when he was twenty-two months old. Alfie is now aged 4 and is on the final or maintenance stage of his treatment and is due to complete it by early 2016. About a year ago, Alfie had a high temperature and after tests he was diagnosed with influenza B. He was treated with IV antibiotics and recovered well and was sent home after a week. He did not developed secondary infections. Before his diagnosis of influenza B, Alfie was already on two prophylactic antibiotics; nitrofurantoin every day and on septrin twice a week.

  • Background

    Harriet is married with two sons aged 4 and 2. She is self-employed and works part-time. Ethnic background: White British.

  • Age at interview 31
  • Sex/Gender Female
  • Michelle

    Jack has complex medical needs: Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (childhood epileptic encephalopathy), Arachhnoid Cyst, Chronic lung disease, Scoliosis, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and he is oxygen dependent. His parents have trained and do a lot of his therapies at home and are greatly supported by the community and hospital teams looking after Jack. In 2014 Jack was seriously ill with influenza and spent three weeks in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Six months after the influenza episode things are still settling down; his liver function tests are still abnormal and his blood pressure continues to be lower than before the flu episode.

  • Background

    Michelle has two sons aged 14 and 11. She is a full-time carer. Ethnic background: White British.

  • Age at interview 40
  • Sex/Gender Female
  • Clare

    El is Clare's oldest child and was diagnosed with asthma when she was aged four. El also has hay fever and eczema and Clare believes that all these conditions are interlinked. Her first flu episode was the worse as she developed a chest infection and required antibiotics. Clare manages the episodes through close monitoring of the symptoms, giving over the counter medication and getting advice from the GP and nurses at her surgery, if necessary.

  • Background

    Clare is married with four children ranging in age from 5 to 11 years old. She works part-time as a nurse. Ethnic background: White British.

  • Age at interview 44
  • Sex/Gender Female
  • Anita

    Oliver, aged 2, is Anita's youngest child and has Downss syndrome and an eye condition called Nystagmus. He has flu like illness symptoms all through winter and sometimes these are severe. Despite this, Oliver is a really happy smiley toddler and loves being around people.

  • Background

    Anita has four sons aged 18, 15, 4 and 2. She is a full-time carer. Ethnic background: White British.

  • Age at interview 41
  • Sex/Gender Female
  • Damian

    Matias has Cri du chat syndrome and is profoundly disabled. Over the years he's had severe flu episodes and several infections. Matias, aged 10 goes to school and lives with his dad. He's a really happy smiley boy and loves being around people.

  • Background

    Damian is a clinical network manager. He is also the primary carer of his son Matias. White British.

  • Age at interview 42
  • Sex/Gender Male
  • Janet & Phil

    Liam was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia at 4. He has 18 months of maintenance treatment left. He has suffered from many flu episodes during his illness and because he is immune-compromised these are mainly managed in the hospital.

  • Background

    Janet, 31, is a finance officer and Phil, 33 looks after their children Liam 5 and Jack 3. Ethnic background: White British.