TESTIMONY
Bertrand's son died at the age of three and a half months after having suffered from shaken baby syndrome. These mistreatments were repeatedly committed by her nanny. It was only after her son had a cardiopulmonary arrest that the shaken baby syndrome was diagnosed. At the microphone of "La Libre antenne", on Europe 1, Bertrand explains the conditions of the death of his son and confides in Olivier Delacroix on his mourning journey.
>> Listen to Bertrand's testimony in full here
"I was unlucky enough to lose my second child, Tom, as a result of abuse by his nanny. This abuse is known as Shaken Baby Syndrome. It was in October 2014. As of September 2014 , we entrusted our two children to a new nanny. The eldest was two years old and Tom was three and a half months old. Tom was not well on the fourth day. I recovered him one evening in a disturbing state.
The nanny did not give us alarming information. My son was livid and had no more tone. We saw our doctor the next day. It missed the first shake. It's complicated to diagnose shaking, I don't blame the doctor. After a difficult weekend, we entrusted our child to the nanny with confidence. A few days later, we recovered our son once again in a dramatic state. He was immediately taken care of in pediatric emergencies.
" We never imagined that someone was hurting our child "Our Tom was no longer drinking very well. He was irritable. He did not react normally. He was dehydrated. We never imagined that someone was hurting our child. We feared a disease, we did not imagine the worst. We got our son back. He was much better. We spent an exceptional weekend with our son. It was the last weekend. We put our children back with the nanny. It was there that he made a cardiorespiratory arrest. It was the third shaking.
I saw the firefighters give my son a heart massage. I never took my eyes off my son. After about ten minutes, his heart is gone. They took him by helicopter to the Besançon University Hospital. This is where our ordeal started. For twelve days, we took turns with him with my wife. After exams, the neuro-pediatrician announced that he had been abused several times and that it was shaken baby syndrome.
" It is heartbreaking for us "The nurse said that she did not understand and that nothing had happened. She gave us no explanation and did not speak. She seemed worried. I did not have any accusing or questioning behavior towards her. At the time, we thought it might be sudden infant death. In October 2018, his trial took place at the assizes in Besançon. She was sentenced to seven years in prison and five years' exercise ban.
Tom's brother was two years and three months old. He asked us a lot of questions. Today he knows what has happened. We are very attentive because it was impacted like us. He has lost his carelessness, he knows what death is. When he goes to the pool, he does not want to put his head underwater because he is afraid of dying. He is eight years old today and he sometimes thinks like an adult. It is heartbreaking for us that he suffered this.
>> Find Olivier Delacroix's Free Antenna in replay and podcast here
I wanted to write a children's book to do prevention and explain what shaken baby syndrome was. Shaken babies have irreversible consequences. I wanted to talk about accepting this handicap. We had two children after the death of our son Tom. We fight to live because we love life. I wanted to show in this book that there can be hope after a drama. The mourning journey was complicated and we continue to live it. "