Mum warns parents on deadly brain bug
Dec 31 2007 by Audrey Barton, The Journal
THE mother of a child who survived deadly brain bug meningitis is warning other parents to trust their instinct and act fast if their child falls ill.
Sam Madine was just two when he was struck down with the most dangerous form of meningitis and was close to death within two hours of showing symptoms.
His mother Michelle, of Greenside, Ryton, rushed him to the doctor’s where a GP gave him a lifesaving penicillin injection and called an ambulance.
The family watched on as hospital doctors battled to save him. Five days later he was able to go home and has made a full recovery but it has taken the family nearly three years to come to terms with the trauma of nearly losing him. “I believe someone was watching over him that day,” said Michelle.
“He came out of it without losing any limbs or having any brain problems. I am eternally grateful he survived.”
Sam began being sick during one January night.
He became lethargic and within minutes the telltale red spots began to appear on his arms and quickly spread all over his body. Michelle and her mother rushed him to the doctor’s and he was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead, then transferred to intensive care at Newcastle General Hospital.
Sam’s mother Michelle, 33, and plumber father Simon, 34, were told he may not survive.
Sam was given antibiotics and monitored in intensive care for the next 24 hours.
“The following morning he came round and gave me a smile, which was amazing to see.”
The Greenside Primary School pupil was able to return home to see his little sister Abbey, four, and has made a full recovery. Michelle, a branch manager for a courier company, has since raised over £1,000 for the Meningitis Research Foundation and ran the Great North Run this year.
Now as the third anniversary of Sam’s illness approaches, she is warning parents to trust their instincts if their child is ill and “get them to the doctor”.
“Parents may think they are being over-anxious but it is better to be safe than sorry,” she said. “You always think it will happen to someone else but when it happens to you, it hits you like a brick.”
