Just weeks ago Bobby Crosier was a happy, healthy two-year-old who was enjoying a bank holiday break with his mum and dad at a caravan in County Durham.

Now, the Washington tot is in Newcastle’s Great North Children’s Hospital fighting off the illness which his worried parents are desperate to raise awareness of.

Mum Alex Crosier, 23, said: “When they told me, I was in a state of shock.

“I felt like someone has just grabbed our world and turned it upside down.”

The Crosier family, including dad Glen, 27, and three-year-old son Karl, had all been enjoying a weekend at a caravan in Witton-le-Wear during the August bank holiday weekend when Bobby started complaining of feeling unwell.

Alex said: “His eyes seemed a bit swollen and he wasn’t himself but we just thought it might have been a touch of hayfever.

“It turns out the problem was caused by E. coli, and the doctors told me it would just be a one-off case.

“When I heard that, I was so grateful. We had originally feared the situation might be a lot worse.”

Bobby has now started to recover on his own without the need for dialysis.