A three-year-old is still in hospital six weeks after her family went swimming at a popular beach.

Ivy Foster was enjoying the water at Christchurch, in Dorset, in early August when her parents noticed a ‘horrendous smell’ as the tide went out.

They left immediately, but the toddler became seriously ill with an E.coli infection later that week.

She has now finished her third round of antibiotics in Poole Hospital and parents Kimberley and Oliver now face an anxious wait to see if their “total water baby” has suffered any permanent damage.

Her aunt Sophie Piper said: ‘Ivy really is going through it. Whenever a nurse or doctor comes near her, she just screams because she is frightened they are going to hurt her.

‘She has bruises all over her hands and arms where they have had to put drips and things in them. It is so horrible to see her suffering, she’s so tiny, she doesn’t deserve this.’

Ivy’s family had gone paddleboarding at Mudeford Quay and Kimberley noticed the stench after the tide had gone out.

The family left the water immediately. But later in the week Ivy became seriously ill with vomiting, diarrhoea, stomach pain and a high temperature. She was admitted to hospital, where tests confirmed an E.coli infection.

Despite being immediately put on IV antibiotics, Ivy struggled to shake the illness off.

She has previously been treated in hospital twice – the latest admission last week, when doctors told her parents that it was resistant to normal antibiotics.

Sophie said: ‘She’s been really poorly again. It’s horrid to see because normally she is a really happy, lively little girl.

‘She’s a total water baby; when she’s in it she spends more time underwater swimming about than on the surface. She loves the water, which makes this all the more sad.’

Ivy has had to undergo scans and other tests to see how badly her kidneys have been affected by the infection, but doctors say they cannot be sure for several months what the outcome will be.

Sophie said: ‘We just want Ivy to be completely well again, but it seems that may be a long way off. It is just unbelievable that a lovely family day out can end like this.’

Sophie revealed how a distraught Kimberley was barred from attending a public meeting about the pollution in Christchurch Harbour,.

She said: ‘Obviously Kimberley was very keen to go because she wanted to make sure the representatives from BCP, Wessex Water and the EA, among others, who were going to be there knew about Ivy.

‘She wanted to tell them what had happened to Ivy and ask them questions about the pollution.

‘But even though friends had kept her a seat, staff at the centre refused to let her in saying it was full. She was really upset and told them about Ivy, but they refused to relent.’

At the meeting were the parents of eight-year-old Keeva Hollow, who fell ill with a bacterial infection after going swimming at Avon Beach in the first week of August.

Her mum Aishling said: ‘Keeva has recovered well, but poor Ivy is still very ill. It is very upsetting; I can’t imagine what her family are going through

‘It was shocking to learn at the meeting that no one seemed to be aware of what had happened to our daughters. Someone has to take responsibility and start looking for answers to protect other children.’

Sophie has set up a GoFundMe to help Ivy’s parents who are both self-employed. She said: ‘Her dad Oliver is a taxi driver and Kimberley is a hairdresser. But since Ivy became ill, they haven’t been able to work.

‘It’s put huge pressure on them when they are trying to just concentrate on Ivy getting better.

‘One of them is either at the hospital with Ivy or at home with their other children, Archie and Poppy. The whole situation is just a total nightmare for them.’

You can help the family here.

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