This brave little girl left fighting for her life after doctors repeatedly misdiagnosed her rash until it got so bad that she had to be intubated in the ICU has finally returned home 46 days after she was admitted to hospital.

Helena Cristina, aged 1 year and 2 months, suffered a rash to 72 percent of her body following what turned out to be an allergic reaction to an anticonvulsant medication prescribed for her seizures.

The plucky youngster has now finally been discharged from hospital 46 days after her admission, 15 of which she spent intubated in the ICU after her skin broke out in blisters after she took the anticonvulsant medication Lamotrigine.

Her family said: “Our Helena is now beginning a new phase in her life. We can see the hands of God working a miracle. She will continue her treatment at home, relearning the little she knew, as she was starting to walk [when she was admitted].”

Helena was discharged from the Hospital Estadual de Urgencias Governador Otavio Lage de Siqueira in the city of Goiania in the Brazilian state of Goias on the night of Monday, 25th October after having been admitted in early September.

Though she is now undergoing treatment at home to strengthen her immunity and complete the healing of her skin, her dad, Hugo Cristiano Penno da Silva, said: “The worst is already over.”

Helena first started to suffer seizures when she was five months old. She saw several neurologists before she was prescribed Lamotrigine. Her skin broke out in blisters roughly three weeks after taking it.

She was repeatedly misdiagnosed by several doctors, first with a virus, then with rosacea, before she finally received the correct diagnosis of Stevens-Johnson syndrome on 10th September, by which point her skin had worsened.

According to the NHS: “Stevens-Johnson syndrome is usually caused by an unpredictable adverse reaction to certain medications. It can also sometimes be caused by an infection.

“The syndrome often begins with flu-like symptoms, followed by a red or purple rash that spreads and forms blisters. The affected skin eventually dies and peels off.”

According to the doctors who treated her, Helena’s skin will be marked for the rest of her life.