As part of our Adults Get it Too awareness campaign Laura, from Ireland but who now lives in Newcastle, tells their story.
“My father contracted meningitis and septicaemia over two years ago. Being above the age of 70 this is not something that he or my mother knew anything about.
“On the day he showed symptoms of the disease such as hallucinating, pain, fever, disorientation and being unable to move, he was out with my mother. She drove him home and for three days he was in bed before a doctor came to the house and got an ambulance immediately. He was in intensive care for three weeks. But due to the fact my parents live in Spain and due to the language barrier, myself and my sister were not told of how serious his situation was until a week after he was diagnosed.
“When we flew out to Spain, we were spoken to once in a private room by a consultant to say that the infection started in his neck, and then travelled through his nervous system leaving him paralysed from the neck down.
“We didn’t have any support, or anyone that could help us. When my father was eventually discharged from hospital he was put in a care home nearest to the hospital and he has resided there ever since.
“My mother visits him every day, but my sister and I are lucky if we get out to Spain twice a year. I feel like my mother has had no support whatsoever and would love to know if there is anything we could have done differently - what happens in the UK when someone contracts the disease, who is there for them?
“My sister and myself have raised over £1,000 in the last year for Meningitis Now in the hope that no family has to go through what we went through and are still going through.”
