![My son was left brain damaged after catching whooping cough as a baby... which is why I'm](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/15/11/87350661-0-image-a-1_1721038480285.jpg)
Spike (centre and right) was left brain-damaged after catching whooping cough at just 11 days old. He was too young to receive a vaccine. Now, his mother Susan (right) is urging all pregnant women to get vaccinated amid an ongoing outbreak which has killed nine babies in England. This week MailOnline revealed whooping cough cases have surged by almost 2,600 in a single month. More than 7,500 cases have already been recorded in 2024 - almost nine times the level seen across the entirety of 2023. The NHS scheme to roll out the jab to mothers-to-be wasn't introduced until 2012, two years after Spike was born. Ms Ray, 59, from Henfield in West Sussex, said his condition was so bad she had to call her husband Nicolas (left) was told he only had a 16 per cent chance of survival.