Here, she shares their story and urges parents to trust their instincts.
"It started at around 1:30am when my son Jesse woke up suddenly crying and irritable. We took him out of his grow bag and stripped him to just his nappy as he felt very hot to touch. We tried to feed him and get him to settle. We gave him Calpol and walked him around the block a few times, but nothing was settling him at all.
"As soon as the doctor’s surgery opened we were at the doors begging for an emergency appointment. The receptionist assumed we were being dramatic, but we knew our baby wasn’t well - he was usually so content and rarely woke up throughout the night. He had three fits while we were in the doctor’s room and the doctor told us it was because he had tonsillitis. He gave us some antibiotics and told us to wait 48 hours to see if the symptoms got any better.
"I knew it was more than tonsillitis, so we went home, packed a bag and drove straight to A&E. Within four hours Jesse was on a ward being treated for meningitis, and we were waiting for him to have a lumbar puncture.
"He was sent to the High Dependency ward where we stayed for the next four nights. The lumbar puncture confirmed bacterial meningitis. After a few days, the doctors told us they were concerned as he wasn’t showing any signs of improvement, and he should be reaching for toys and smiling by now.
"They arranged a scan to check for brain damage and we were told to prepare in case it was bad news. No words can explain the fear and heartbreak that you experience, as you wait to see if your seven-month-old son has brain damage. We had to quickly come to terms with the fact that he may suffer with after effects from this horrible disease.
"After 10 days in hospital, Jesse started to pick up his toys and smile at us - It was amazing! We were allowed home and we went back every tea time for his antibiotics. All his scans came back clear for brain damage and epilepsy, and we could finally go back to normality.
Meningitis will always be a scary thing to talk about for my family. The word will always hit us hard, but we are so blessed to have a healthy 15 month-old-boy today. Mothers should always trust their instincts - no one knows a baby better than its mother!"
