Parents, if you do not know the slightest thing about the disease called Meningitis, high time that you start familiarizing yourself—it can literally save your young one’s life.
A Kent family is grieving with the loss of their two-year-old daughter when the illness consumed her just eleven days after contracting it, and now they’re sharing their story to warn parents.
It started a rash that appeared on Faye Burdett’s forehead. Her parents began to worry when it persisted for a month, along with the sustained deterioration of her health.
At the ambulance, her heart stopped, prompting the medics to stabilize for for hours. The doctors discovered that she had Meningitis B.
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“We were given a one per cent survival chance but she proved them wrong and carried on fighting,” he parents said.
However, as she began to show signs of improving, a complication commonly associated with meningitis B began to develop: blood poisoning, or sepsis.
To prevent the infection from spreading, the doctors suggested a life-saving yet heartbreaking solution—to amputate her leg and arm. Her parents agreed.
Some cases requires fingers or toes to be amputated, while more severe cases call for the amputation of hands, feet, and even arms or legs.
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“The extent of removal was massive—full leg amputation and one arm and plastic surgery,” Faye’s mother recalled. “Faye was getting tired, her little body consumed by meningitis and sepsis.”
Then her parents made the toughest decision of their lives: A massive operation which their daughter could die from, or let her go peacefully of her own accord.
“We decided the latter and then watched our little girl slip away. At 9pm on February 14th she finally fell asleep forever. All this in only 11 days.”
Meningitis: what is it?
Meningitis is a relatively rare infection that affects the delicate membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord. There are three types of meningitis.
Bacterial is deadly and contagious among people in close contact. Viral is less severe and most people recover completely without specific therapy. Fungal is rare and generally occurs only in people with weakened immune systems.
Although just about anyone can get meningitis, studies suggest that these three groups of people are most at risk: children under age 5, teenagers and young adults age 16-25, and adults over age 55.
Because symptoms are often common (fever, cold hands and feet, vomiting, drowsiness and difficulty waking up, confusion and irritability, severe muscle pain, rashes), you might mistake it for another illness.
The treatment of meningitis also depends on the type that you have, so it’s best that you consult your doctor to be sure.
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