All was well until shortly before James's second birthday, when he became ill. He had only a cough and a low-grade fever at first, but then began to refuse food, choking if he tried to swallow. The glands in his neck began to swell, and the little cough became a crouping one. Caroline did her best to nurse him, but she was also three months pregnant and suffering her usual morning sickness that lasted all day. When his skin took on a bluish pallor, they called in the local doctor. He took one look, pried open the little boy's mouth, and pronounced him to be suffering from the dreaded diphtheria. A grayish, leathery membrane had grown in his throat, shutting off most of his air supply. The doctor simply shook his head. The child had only a 50/50 chance of survival, and there was no known cure.

Little James McCaskey died on June 12th, 1895. It was in that year that French doctors began to use diphtheria vaccinations and antitoxins to prevent or treat the disease, but the discovery came too late. Two more daughters joined the McCaskey family -- Florence in December of that year and Margaret in 1898 -- but there was never another son.
No comments:
Post a Comment