EastEnders star Melissa Suffield has revealed that her six-year-old son River was rushed to hospital over the weekend after suffering from a mysterious illness. The actress, best known for playing Lucy Beale in the BBC One soap from 2004 to 2010, shared the news on her Instagram Stories, saying that her holiday ended with the young boy in A&E.
'Not the most fun way to round off the holiday', she wrote, before later adding: 'We just got home, I'll fill you in later on River once I've got him to bed. I'm really intrigued to know if anyone has ever had anything similar happen to their kid and what the f*** it was?!'
Update on River's condition
Melissa later provided an update alongside a picture of River, describing the scary experience in detail. She wrote: 'So an update on what went down with Riv. It was genuinely quite scary, he was very difficult to wake up yesterday morning.'
'And then he'd be awake for about 2-5 minutes and seem like he was going to wake up, and then would be DRIPPING in sweat with no temperature, and fall back to sleep wherever he was, and then be almost impossible to wake up again. Rinse and repeat. So floppy, lethargy, even sweating on the backs of his hands.'
She explained that as a 'lockdown baby', River's immune system was challenged later in life, making him more susceptible to illness. However, she noted that neither she nor her mother, who has had five children, had seen anything like this before, prompting her to seek medical help immediately.
Recovery and ongoing concern
Melissa said River 'slowly perked up a bit over the course of the afternoon' and was 'much better today', but she is keeping a very close eye on him and plans to take him to their regular GP the next day. She admitted that both she and the doctor were stumped by the cause.
Outside of acting, Melissa, who runs the Instagram page The Confident Mama with over 250k followers, has been open about her own health struggles, including a diagnosis of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and a vitamin B12 deficiency. She previously shared that it took around 40 GP appointments, several medical tests, and more than five figures in costs to finally get a diagnosis.
