'I had to say final goodbyes to my sick son FIVE times but amazingly he pulled through'

A woman who said final goodbyes to her sick son five times is overjoyed after hearing him call her 'mum' for the first time in eight months.

Georgia Eaton was repeatedly told that her teenage son wasn't going to 'make it' after he was diagnosed with a rare auto immune disease that causes inflammation of the brain and intense spasms. After more than six months of fighting for his life, James, 14, is finally on the mend after a board of doctors approved a steroid treatment - never before trialled on children.

James first became unwell with a high temperature and bursts of dizziness in December 2021. Just weeks later after visiting his GP, in January, Georgia walked into James' room to find him bleeding from the mouth with 'blue lips and vacant eyes'.

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The schoolboy was rushed to the Countess of Chester Hospital in an ambulance where he was put on life-support. An MRI scan revealed James had a collapsed lung, sepsis and a chest infection - but despite this, doctors were still unable to pinpoint a diagnosis.

An hour later, medics transferred him to ICU at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool. Over the next month, Georgia, 36, was forced to watch as her son took turns for the worse until he was finally diagnosed with encephalitis.

Armed with a diagnosis, doctors pumped James with a cocktail of medication, including steroids, a specialised ketogenic diet and a therapeutic plasma exchange. But despite doctors knowing how to treat the teen, his health continued to falter and on March 20 his heart stopped and he was rushed back to critical care.

Thankfully James is now on the mend, over eight months after first falling ill, after a