"I can't be the mum I used to be. I get exhausted easily. My life has completely changed."
Forty-year-old Sarah from Hellifield in North Yorkshire thought she was having a stroke and was rushed to hospital, where tests revealed viral meningitis. Four months on she still suffers from ME (chronic fatigue) and struggles to be the mum she used to be, as she tells us here.
“After a normal morning I sat down waiting for my eldest daughter to come in from school. Suddenly I felt really unwell and could not see out of my left eye. My face felt tingly. I thought I was having a stroke.
“My 13-year-old daughter rang the ambulance. She then rang my friend and her Grandad to assist with collecting her little sister from school. I was becoming more confused.
“Once the ambulance arrived they asked to turn the light on and I screamed. It hurt so much. They also discovered a rash on my tummy. They raced me by blue light to the local hospital whilst administering drugs on board the ambulance. They were unfortunately unable to get any lines in.
Flurry of doctors
“At the hospital I was greeted by a flurry of doctors, who struggled to get any veins due to me being so poorly. They decided to use a drill and scanner and to start me on antibiotics and other drugs for meningitis.
"The took blood and I was also sent for an MRI. I was then moved to the ward and placed in a dark room that was isolated while they awaited results. I didn't have a lumbar puncture due to still being weak from sepsis only a few months earlier.
“Nobody could enter my room without the appropriate mask and apron, not even family. I was so poorly. I don't remember much other than the pain. Eventually the results showed viral meningitis and I was discharged.
Still suffering
“I am still suffering four months on with headaches, weakness and forgetfulness. I have also been diagnosed with ME (chronic fatigue).
"I can't be the mum I used to be. I get exhausted easily now and my life has completely changed. I can no longer focus on my dream of opening my own dog grooming salon at the moment.
"Meningitis Now has helped me through its Helpline and this has made me understand that everything I’m feeling is normal.”
