"I felt alone for so long until I discovered Meningitis Now."
Thirty-four year old Stacy, from Catterick in North Yorkshire, fell ill in March 2025 with viral meningitis soon after getting married.
After a difficult time in hospital she’s since found support through the Meningitis Now team and our Peer Support Group, although she still struggles with ongoing after-effects, as she tells us here:
Trigger warning - medical trauma
“In March 2025 , a few weeks after we got married, we decided to have a weekend break. I felt a bit unwell but, as I was on antibiotics, I thought nothing of it.
“On the following Monday morning my husband set off to work at 7am. I said goodbye, but went back to bed as I had a really bad headache. I took painkillers but they did nothing and the pain continued to get worse. It was the most horrendous pain from the front of my right side all the way back into the base of my skull. I also had a temperature.
“At 2pm a phonecall from a family member roused me from my sleep. I couldn't bear the sound, it felt like an ice pick being hit by a sledgehammer into my skull with every word. I told them I couldn't speak as I had a really bad headache and I threw the phone down. All I remember thinking in the pain and delirium that followed was ‘I need an ambulance.’
Think I need an ambulance
“I was unable to get help as I felt too unwell to even lift my head. At 6pm my husband came home. The first thing I said was ‘I think I need an ambulance.’ He couldn't believe I'd been in bed since the morning. He helped me dial 111 and I remember the pain upon hearing the hold music – like multiple fingernails scratching at a chalkboard and the pain firing all through my brain.
The operator asked if I could put my chin to my chest. I couldn't. He asked if I could look at the window and light. I replied ‘Yes, but it hurts.’ He asked if the curtains were drawn and I answered ‘Yes.’ Then I started vomiting.
“I was told to go straight to A&E.
“My husband drove and I had my sunglasses on. Then followed a horrendous chapter. I was in the bright, noisy over crowded waiting room for eight hours, continuously vomiting with my face down on the floor. I felt as if I wasn't tbeing taken seriously, a young woman with just a headache.
“After triage and morphine a doctor gave me a painkiller to swallow. After vomiting continuously I obviously brought it straight back up in front of her. Left for hours in horrendous pain I was then moved slightly down a corridor and a male nurse on duty put me in a swivel chair in an eye test room with fluorescent lights.
The pain was getting so bad I could literally feel my brain being crushed against my skull. I was face down on the floor vomiting again, when a female nurse passing shouted at the male nurse to ‘get that lady into a bed.’ I remember his shoes either side of my head and he shouted at me to ‘Get up off the floor.’ He dragged me up and pinned me in the swivel chair whilst he injected something.
Screaming for help
“I was screaming for help and felt like my back snapped as I arched backwards (I was sideways being pinned in the chair. I thought I was going to die. I'd never felt pain like it and being unable to see or stand I felt so vulnerable. I said my goodbyes to my husband as I thought I can't survive this level of pain.
“My husband was crying as not only was he upset about how unwell I was but because he was in shock at how I'd just been treated by someone who was supposed to care.The lovely female nurse then came back to check and thank God she put me in the bed opposite and turned the lights off. Hour upon hour passed before I was taken to a ward. I had an antibiotic drip and antivirals.
“The multiple failed lumbar punctures were my worst nightmare. I felt like I was in a horror movie. I was on the ward in my bed when two Doctors came in to perform it. I was petrified but thought it would be over in a few moments. I was wrong. They slumped me sat up over my Bed table. I had my left leg over the bed plastic all wonky.
I was told to put my forehead flat on top of my hands. The first doctor was a showoff and told the other doctor to raise the bed and how he ‘Always gets it first try.’ The bed was raised so much I was stuck with my knees crushed up against the underside of the table.
Felt like a bomb going off
“The first attempt whacked my nerves, shooting pains into my hip and leg. It felt like a bomb going off on the inner nerve network sending electric shocks. It failed. Again the pushing and manipulating of my discs. Again it struck my nerves. The third attempt with frustration did the same. He gave up and said to the other doctor he was off to get someone else. I'm in excruciating pain, face down, crushed up under a table feeling like a piece of meat, like I wasn't even present in the room.
“The next doctor didn't introduce himself. I don't know who he was or what he looked like. I remember him behind me and with his strength manipulating my discs. Again and again my nerves were whacked.
“I hadn't been able to feel my right arm or left leg for about 15 minutes but felt like I couldn't even tell them. Before the next attempt I meekly said, ‘I can't feel them’. To which the doctor asked in an abrupt manner ‘How long for? This ends now! You're going to theatre.’
“It was family visiting time and I could hear my family outside the door. The doctors suddenly left the room. I was just abandoned. I didn't know what to do. I slumped on my side. Not knowing when I was going to theatre.
“About five hours later I was taken down to theatre where it was done properly by the nicest anaesthetist who introduced himself and made me feel at ease. He told me I hadn't been informed of the potential risks upstairs. And he said I had ‘more punctures than a bicycle tyre but he was going to do it once only.’ I felt safer, acknowledged and as if I could speak. I asked questions.
“This time it didn't hurt, just pressure and in less than a minute it was over. I was still vomiting but I thought it can't be meningitis because I didn’t have the rash like in the adverts you used to see on TV.
Relieved to leave hospital
“I was in hospital for five days. On the Friday the doctor came in and told me I had viral meningitis. I was then told everything could stop and I could go home. As simple as that, I felt so poorly and yet I was being sent home. I was relieved to be leaving the hospital and the lack of care.
“I was wheeled out with a piece of paper saying I would be better in 7 to 10 days. I couldn't walk or even stand. My husband became my full-time carer, washing, dressing and feeding me. Everyone had expectations for me to be better. The 10 days came and went. I still wasn't anywhere near 'better'.
“Eight weeks later I fell pregnant with my little girl – our rainbow baby. Pregnancy was tough and the fear of hospital was crippling. Twelve months on and I'm still struggling. I have given up work and I'm not the same person I once was. I have fatigue, memory problems, cognitive function, back pain, headaches and PTSD – the list goes on and on.
“I felt alone for so long until I discovered Meningitis Now. The stories and support have helped me feel validated. There needs to be more awareness of viral meningitis and its after-effects, so the survivors have the time they need to focus on recovery. Things need to change. I wish I’d known about viral meningitis.
“And I hope sharing my story helps others feel less alone. There is help out there and hope. We don't need to rush recovery – the world needs to adapt to allow us to recover.”
If you have been affected by anything in this story, you can get in touch with our Helpline team on 0808 80 10 388.
