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Stories

Nadia G's story

30th May 2019

At just 19-years-old, Nadia G from Oldham in Lancashire came down with flu-like symptoms including hallucinations, fever and vomiting, which she later learned were the first signs of meningitis. Nadia, now in her early forties, is still living with the after-effects of the disease – including the constant worry that her children have caught meningitis every time they fall ill. Nadia told us her story

Nadia G's story

“I had become unwell a few days prior and thought I had flu.

My dad and sister had gone to work and when they returned later that evening, they thought I wasn’t home as no lights were in in the house. My dad found me collapsed on my bedroom floor and I was fitting."

“He and my sister got me into my dad’s car and took me straight down to the hospital where they admitted me but hadn’t diagnosed me. I fell into a coma and they put me on antibiotics. They told my dad to prepare for the worst as they said I wouldn’t survive the night, all the while trying to find out what was wrong with me. Eventually they did a lumbar puncture and the doctor said he didn’t need to send off my sample to the lab as he was certain I had meningitis."

“I was unconscious for a total of nine days and gradually came around, but my life has been changed. I didn’t recognise anyone or know who my family were, I couldn’t read or write or do basic things for myself. I had to learn to do simple things again and although I am now married with children and live a healthy life, I have been left with memory loss and some neurological difficulties -which luckily don’t hold me back."

“I often wonder though what kind of a girl I was before I became ill because I have no idea who she was which makes me really sad.”

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