“I was told that I would never walk again and should plan for my life to end at around 25 to 30-years-old.”
“Doctors correctly diagnosed my illness, and I was taken by ambulance to hospital, where I went into a type of coma for the next 10 days.
“It was too late to amputate my limbs and so my family said their goodbyes. They didn’t know I could still hear them.
“I came around to total paralysis. I was only left with my jaw to indicate yes. The call for help button was fixed to my teeth.
The pain grew
“Eventually the pain grew, which I knew was me recovering. After two weeks I was moved to the men’s ward. Unfortunately, here I added to my illness by contacting osteitis and my leg bones reduced to virtually nothing, which on top of liver damage and large areas of missing skin, meant I was in a poor state. At this point I also went blind.
“I knew this was not going to stop my recovery and I stated to the medics that I intended to go skiing. I was told that I would never walk again and should plan for my life to end at around 25 to 30-years-old.
“But with faith and determination I recovered my sight and received the newly-invented Vitamin K supplement. I was on the road to recovery. This still left me with serious health issues, patches of no skin and bone loss.
Slowly regained some weight
“The medical professional decided to experiment with skin grafts at Odstock Burns Hospital and this treatment was successful. I slowly regained some weight – a few stone back to four, then five, six and seven stone.
“I was still in hospital months later, now being x-rayed daily. My leg bones had miraculously stopped eroding and started to grow back.
“Nevertheless, I was still wheelchair bound. But I was determined to walk again and I leant to reuse my hands, through typesetting therapy and then moved on to parallel bars.
Learning to walk again
“It took two weeks to put my feet on the floor, two weeks to stand on my own feet and two weeks more to take a step using parallel bar supports. Then a further two weeks to use crutches. To stop my depression, I discharged myself back to my family. It took a further year to learn to walk again.
“I am eternally grateful to so many people that helped me pull through and I feel truly blessed.
“For three years afterwards I was in contact with the British Medical Association (BMA) to recount my recovery and assist them in gaining insights into how I survived without amputation. And how osteitis can reverse.
“I also gave blood for 13 years until former meningitis patients were added to the unsuitable list.”
If you or someone you know is recovering from meningitis and needs our support please get in touch – call 0808 80 10 388 or email helpline@meningitisnow.org
