She was still sick the next day so Louise, 23, decided to contact her parents. She told us what happened next.
“I was out with friends watching the football in a local pub and suddenly felt confused. I thought it might have been the drink, so I headed home."
“Next day I rang in work sick as I still didn’t feel better. I went for a bath as my shoulders were achy and thought it might help relieve the pain. After I had finished my bath I couldn’t use my legs to get out as my lower body strength had gone. It took me about twenty minutes to get out and alert my parents."
“From there I went downhill. I went to the doctors, who immediately sent me to hospital; the hospital put me on a drip for meningitis then sent me home. Again, I went from bad to worse and an ambulance was called out. I couldn’t say what I was thinking as different words were coming out of my mouth. This was Christmas Eve and again the hospital let me out."
Gobsmacked
“Going to the doctor and again he was gobsmacked that I was not at hospital and sent me there again. This time they kept me in and I fell into what my mum said was a ‘coma’ and got blue lighted to a different hospital (thank God!)"
“The only way to describe it is that I felt like I was in a computer game trying to reach the last level with everything against me. Although I thought I was dreaming, I was actually running around the hospital causing mayhem. I thought the old women in the ward were prostitutes and one was a witch. I thought the nurses were trying to kill me and kicked off whenever they came near me. I hit my mum thinking she was a robot and so much more. My mum said my eyes all turned black."
Had to start again
“Two days later I came around just before they were thinking about performing surgery to relieve the pressure on my brain. I felt like I had to start again - my legs were weak I couldn’t walk far or write properly. I was in hospital all in all for about three months. And I can’t thank them enough for saving me."
“Since 2010 I have led a near enough normal life although sometimes my memory isn’t as perfect as it once was. The steroids they put me on in the hospital have resulted in me having to have a hip replacement as they wore the bone away. But I have a lovely family and gorgeous little girl and a happy life and positive thinking is the way forward.”
