The father of a seriously disabled Wellington boy has thanked the public for their support since his family shared their story last month.
Wellington boy William Burton, 2, was left quadriplegic and severely brain damaged after Wellington Hospital twice failed to diagnose E. coli meningitis.
A Health and Disability Commissioners report released last month, found the actions of the Capital and Coast District Health Board were to blame for William's disabilities.
William was brought to the hospital by his parents in October 2013 and was twice sent home within two days, with a junior doctor on the second occasion diagnosing a gastric illness.
Three days after that, on William's third visit to hospital, meningitis was diagnosed and his parents then spent a heart-wrenching month watching their boy's brain wither away.
Following the release of the report doctors had told William's parents Derek and Wendy that their son won't be put back on life support if he needed it again.
However, the Capital and Coast District Health Board has now made a u-turn on its decision and has assured William's family it will offer him ventilation life support if necessary.
Mr Burton said he was pleased Wellington Hospital had agreed to sit down and talk things through.
"Our son had that ventilator support just once before and it had worked out really well for us and him obviously."
He said William was back home a week later.
"He had a really good experience with that so we didn't really understand why they weren't willing to offer it again if need be."
Mr Burton said it was "ridiculous" given the amount of stress it put on the family.
"Our medical team says that it is going to be a respiratory infection that makes him weakest in the end. Every time he gets a cold, or everytime we are thinking about a cold it's a worry. It's stressful.
"Not having that back up support, it [the stress] increased. We didn't think that was particularly fair... to be burdened with."
William was doing well and was enjoying time spent at a special education pre-school in Lower Hutt, Mr Burton said.
"He goes there three days a week. As far as we can tell he does [enjoy it] they work him hard as well."
"He is not an ill kid which is one of the things that we couldn't understand.
"He's healthy and he's robust. He is a strong boy. But that is not down playing his significant brain damage either. Physically he's a healthy kid."
Mr Burton expressed the family's gratitude for all the support they had received over the past few weeks.
"In terms of the amount of public support we got... I'm not sure if we would have had another meeting with the hospital if it wasn't for the support we received."
- additional reporting: Jimmy Ellingham of NZME News Service