Surviving deadly meningitis

11:37am Tuesday 16th September 2008

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Bacterial meningitis can strike quickly with devastating affects. CHARLOTTE McDONALD speaks to the mother of a 10-year-old girl who survived.

IT must be one of a parent's worst nightmares- to stand over their child in a hospital bed, unsure of whether they will make it through the night.

That is what happened to Charlotte Harries and her husband Paul, both 39, after their daughter Laura was rushed to A&E one evening in January last year.

The school girl, then aged nine, had gone into her parent's room on a Sunday morning saying she felt sick.

By the evening of the next day she was admitted to hospital with bacterial meningitis and septicaemia, a disease which claims the life of one person a day in the UK, leaving many others with brain damage or amputated limbs.

Laura was seen by doctors twice in the two days before being hospitalised who were unable to spot the condition as her symptoms did not fully develop until late on the second day.

At around 4.30pm on the Monday, a lamp on a timer in the family's sitting room came on as usual.

Laura, sitting under it, began to scream which set alarm bells ringing in her mother's head, knowing that a dislike for light was a classic sign of meningitis.

Mrs Harries decided to take the little girl to the Princess Royal University Hospital straight away where her fears were realised.

Laura spent the next two days in the high dependency unit with her parents, staying with her through the night.

Mrs Harries said: "When we were in the hospital we went through several stages.

"At first we were thinking- is she going to survive? Then is she going to lose any limbs? Is she going to be brain damaged?"

By Friday that week the pupil at Oak Lodge Primary School in Chamberlain Crescent, West Wickham was able to return home and nurses came to administer antibiotics.

It wasn't until a few weeks later when Laura picked up the phone and said she couldn't hear anything that the family discovered she had lost all hearing in her left ear.

But her mother said: "In the grand scheme of things it is a small price to pay. Laura is already adapting."

"I am convinced that the light coming on saved her, otherwise things could have been worse.

"To know the symptoms is very important."

Mrs Harries, a school administrator, and her husband, a financial director, also have a seven-year-old son, Owen.

The mother-of-two said: "It had quite an effect on my son. For a couple of days mummy and daddy disappeared and when Laura came back she needed attention.

"My friends were there to look after him."

The couple wanted to highlight their story as part of Meningitis Awareness Week (September 15 to 21).

Information and help can be obtained from The Meningitis Research Foundation.

Free packs with information about symptoms can be obtained by calling the 24 hour free helpline on 080 8800 3344 or visit meningitis.org WHAT TO LOOK FOR: - The illness begins with non-specific flu-like symptoms.

- Then limb pain, pale mottled skin, cold hands and feet - Five to eight hours after that watch for stiff neck, dislike of bright lights and rash - Vomitting THE TUMBLER TEST- If a glass tumbler is pressed firmly against a septicaemic rash, the marks will not fade. You will be able to see the rash through the glass. If this happens seek medical help immediately.