AN 11-YEAR-OLD boy from Cwmbran died as a result of undiagnosed diabetes, a coroner has found.

Kayden Hall, of East Roedin in Coed Eva, died in the early hours of June 5 last year at University Hospital Wales, having been unwell for several days.

His mum, Melanie Hall, described him as “a bright child” who “was loved by his friends and his teachers” and “loved playing with his siblings”.

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Newport Coroners Court heard how, at around tea time on Monday, June 1, last year, Kayden said he was feeling unwell and had a tight chest. He also said he was dehydrated and was drinking “a lot more than usual”.

This continued for a few days.

His temperature was at a normal level though, and Ms Hall said, via a statement read out to the court, she didn’t call the GP or hospital as she thought she couldn’t unless he had a temperature, and that, due to the pandemic, she thought she would not be able to access medical care.

On June 4, Ms Hall went to make food for her other children, but when she returned to check on Kayden he was unresponsive.

Kayden’s family performed CPR on him until an ambulance arrived, where he was taken to the University Hospital Wales in Cardiff.

There he was taken for a CT scan, which showed a hypoxic brain injury – caused by a lack of air to the brain.

The decision was then made to switch off his ventilator, and Kayden died at 1.50am.

Dr Anna Barrow, a paediatric intensive care consultant, said Kayden had suffered a cardiac arrest.

Dr Barrow suggested the cause of death was diabetic ketoacidosis – an issue among diabetics where the body runs out of insulin, causing harmful substances (ketones) to build up in the body, which can be life-threatening if it's not found and treated quickly.

“Had that been picked up earlier, perhaps Kayden would have survived,” Dr Barrow said.

Dr Andrew Bamber, a consultant paediatric pathologist, confirmed Kayden had undiagnosed diabetes, however, he also found the schoolboy had “a number of other complications from diabetes”, including aspiration pneumonia, caused by breathing in vomit; an inflammation of the pancreas, most likely pancreatitis; and damage to the oesophagus – which he said had “never seen it or heard it described in a child before”.

“It’s the combination of these things which have caused him to pass away,” said Dr Bamber.

He added that Kayden had appeared to have had these conditions for “quite a long time”.

“A child with these complications, even if he had gone to hospital earlier that day or the day before, these things had already started," he said. "It’s absolutely possible he would have died.”

Summing up, Ms Saunders said: “For some time Kayden had been suffering from diabetes, but the signs can be subtle and can go unnoticed.”

Ms Saunders noted that Kayden had been unwell, felt a tight chest, and his mum had noticed he was drinking more than usual, but added these were “symptoms similar to asthma or a tummy bug.”

She concluded that Kayden was an undiagnosed diabetic, and that his death was as a result of natural causes.

Ms Saunders also raised a concern about the quality of messaging around access to healthcare over the pandemic.

“I am concerned access to medical services in the pandemic has been poorly communicated,” she said.