“On the Sunday morning, 5th July 2015, at around 10:30am my partner and I noticed that our baby daughter Eleri wouldn't take her normal feed.
We thought nothing of it as some babies can be fussy.
“As the day went on she was awfully distressed and miserable, her temperature was going up by the hour, so I took her baby grow off and left her in her nappy and give her some calpol to cool down.
“We then noticed her skin was going all mottled and every time she moved, we moved while she was in our arms or even touched her skin she would make this screaming, crying which me or my partner had never heard her do before.
Called NHS for advice
“I called 111 NHS for advice on what to do - whether to take her down to A&E or wait to go to the doctors in the morning.
“After I described to the woman on the phone what her symptoms were and she gave me some instructions to see how Eleri would respond, she immediately put me through to the ambulance services and they were quickly on their way to get her and take her to the hospital.
“When we got there they took us into the A&E emergency department to check her over and the doctor came to see her. They sent us straight up to the children's ward to take bloods and put a drip into her hand.
“The next morning they woke us up at 7:30am to tell us she needed a lumbar puncture right away. They took her away and brought her back within 20 minutes.
Caught it early
“They immediately put her on two types of antibiotics. The doctor then came in to tell me and my partner the scariest news in the world that our little princess had viral meningitis, but luckily they had caught it early.
“She then recovered over three weeks in the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, with amazing nurses and doctors.
“My partner and I are so lucky that we acted on our instincts. Eleri is now aged 1 and is the happiest little girl in the world.”
