Sammy was 18 when she fell ill in 2008. It took just four days from first feeling ill for meningitis to take her life. Mum Melanie, from Croydon, shares their story here.
“Sammy started to feel unwell on the Tuesday evening. She felt sick and said she was cold. The next day, in the morning she said that she felt a bit better. I made her lunch then went to work.
“In the evening she felt worse, she had a bad headache again and was sick. I phoned 111 and we went through all the meningitis symptoms, but as Sammy only had the headache and was sick they said it was most likely a virus. I was reassured by this.
“But two hours later at about 8pm Sammy had a temperature and was getting a bit delirious, so we called an ambulance.
It all happened so quickly
“Sammy was put straight on intravenous antibiotics and then put in an induced coma. It all happened so quickly.
“From feeling unwell to us having to give permission to turn off her life support was four days.
“There may only be a couple of symptoms at the beginning and not always a rash until it’s too late. Because the other symptoms can be mistaken for other illnesses it's so important to be able to have this vaccine.
“If this vaccine had been available at the time we might still have our beautiful daughter with us today.”