World Meningitis Day

Thank you for sharing the signs to look out for. I hope your children continue to thrive after experiencing this horrible illness.

Please do you have any advice for people who are thinking of getting a vaccine for meningitis but are not sure how or where?

Is it necessary to book a GP appointment or will the Uni health centres give vaccines for meningitis?

I understand the vaccines are free for students.

If you are a full time uk home student, you can get it free of charge from your local nhs GP surgery.
The wait may be a little long depending upon your location.

You can also get it at some branches of Superdrug with health clinics, it costs £50.
You can find their closest health clinic branch offering it and book online here.

Today it's World Meningitis Day, so I'd like to bring some awareness to this disease with my own experiences of it.
It's really important to know some of the signs and symptoms, so you know what to look out for.

Don't forget, university students are at high risk of contracting this disease, so please do make sure you are up to date with all your vaccinations. Whilst you won't be protected against all strains, it's important to take any vaccinations you are entitled to.

Two of my children have gone through this awful disease. The first was my son when he was 9 years old, in June 2017. He was in Year 5. Here is his story:



In January 2020, my daughter who was 14 at the time (Year 9), also contracted meningitis. This is her story:



Even if the above stories were too long for you to bother reading, please familiarise yourself with the signs of meningitis.

DO NOT ASSUME THERE HAS TO BE A RASH. Neither of my children had a rash at all. A rash is commonplace for meningococcal but not necessarily for other strains.



Around 1 in 10 people who contract bacterial meningitis die, even with treatment. The risk of death without treatment from bacterial meningitis is around 70%.
Survivors often have life changing after-effects, including:


Viral meningitis is rarely life threatening, but can cause many long side effects including:
• Exhaustion
• Headaches
• Memory loss
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Dizziness/balance problems
• Hearing difficulties
Various other after-effects have also been reported including personality changes, aching joints or limbs, sight problems, learning difficulties, speech and language problems, noise intolerance and light aversion.

Think that a lot more illnesses like this should be highlighted in having a special day each year.
Meningitis isn't a illness that you don't want anyone to get especially children.

Hope that your own children continue to recover from having this and you highlighting the illness will hopefully be shared by others so that they can watch out for the signs of meningitis and any other illnesses like this.

It's good that we have people like yourself who's willing to share there own experience from this.

Must have been absolutely awful to go through that as a parent, especially twice. Were you kids vaccinated?

Thank you. I do have a tendency to shout about it a lot on Facebook usually. I think it's really important to know the signs so it can be caught quickly.

I mean, everybody has heard of it, but most people haven't a clue what to watch out for. People generally just look for a rash.

You're right, many illnesses should be highlighted more often.

Unusual for a family to go through such a horrible illness twice.