Meningitis stories

After Stacey's 40th birthday she started to feel unwell. The next day she was rushed to hospital and diagnosed with meningococcal meningitis.

Student Matthew started feeling unwell at work, and it wasn't long before he collapsed, ending up on life support in hospital

Daisy didn't think that her illness could be meningitis, as she didn't have a rash. However, as her symptoms worsened, she was soon being treated for the worst-case scenario

Breastfeeding mum Kasie found her treatment options were limited when she contracted viral meningitis, but she is glad she chose to continue

Stephanie spent six days in hospital before being diagnosed with viral meningitis. However, she wasn't aware of the after-effects of the disease until she found Meningitis Now

Mike fell ill with meningococcal meningitis in September 2018. Despite devastating after-effects he is now rebuilding his life.

Paul thought that his symptoms were the flu, but when he woke up in intensive care after three days, he discovered that his illness had been much worse

Following surgery to help improve an existing medical condition, Lucy found herself becoming very unwell with bacterial meningitis

When Samantha developed a severe headache and lost control of her right leg, she knew her symptoms were more than just from overdoing it

Denise had been feeling unwell for a few months, but her headache suddenly got so severe that she ended up in a coma, fighting for her life

Diagnosed earlier this year with meningoencephalitis, a form of viral meningitis, Catarina has been left with after-effects but is slowly trying to return to normal

In the run-up to Christmas in 2017, Alice was feeling unwell with a cold, which over the course of a few days revealed itself to be something much more serious - bacterial meningitis

Holly was on her way to Norway for work when she started feeling unwell at the airport. Deemed unfit to fly, her symptoms worsened until she was rushed to hospital with a tell-tale rash

Michael was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with meningitis after he fell ill in 2015

Katy had been suffering from progressively worse headaches, but when she lost her speech and use of one arm, her mum took her straight to A&E, where she was diagnosed with viral meningitis

Sarah thought she was coming down with a cold, but was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis after her organs started to fail

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.

Claire didn't realise that adults could get meningitis, until her mum Gwen became unwell and unresponsive

Danielle thought she had contracted flu but in fact the new mum, from Lurgan in County Armagh, had something even worse – pneumococcal meningitis

Meningococcal meningitis has left Paul profoundly deaf and with other lifelong after-effects. He tells his story here.