My experience of a terrible disease (From Evesham Journal)

My experience of a terrible disease

2:00pm Saturday 22nd September 2012 in News

A MOTHER from Bredon is encouraging people to be meningitis- wise this week.

Meningitis Awareness Week runs until Sunday, and Jane Robinson is hoping her firsthand experience of the disease can help people know its symptoms and those of septicaemia.

Her son Craig developed the disease as a youngster but has since made a full recovery.

The Meningitis Research Foundation (MRF) says meningitis and septicaemia affect about 3,600 people in the UK and Ireland annually.

Mrs Robinson said: “My football- mad five-year-old son became unwell with flu-like symptoms which quickly developed into him being covered in purple bruise-like spots, his breathing very shallow, his hands and feet very cold.

“He remained in intensive care for several weeks with meningococcal septicaemia.

“He made a complete recovery and thankfully avoided amputation of his hands and feet.

Although skin grafts have left him very scarred he is now 20 years old, still football mad and very fit and healthy.”

The potentially deadly diseases can strike anyone without warning, killing one in 10, and leaving a quarter of survivors with life altering after-effects ranging from deafness and brain damage to loss of limbs.

MRF has explored the impact of the diseases and estimates the life-long cost of medical treatment and ongoing care for a person disabled by the disease is about £3 million.

It has since passed a petition of 18,000 names to the UK Government, calling for it to pursue the widest and earliest implementation of vaccines to prevent all types of meningitis and septicaemia.

For further information, go to meningitis.org.