Nicholas Sampson Marriage Tom and Alex’s first child was born on 7th Sept 2006 at 02.55am, weighing 7lb 2oz. Age when diagnosed: 17 days. Type: Group B Streptococcal bacterial Meningitis (aka: Strep B)

THE birth of your first child is a defining moment for any parent. Pride, exhaustion, relief and sheer unbridled joy are mixed with a concern that your new baby is fit and healthy.

Nicholas seemed to be fine. True, he lost weight early on and was kept in for three days, but from there on things went largely according to plan – we slept when we could and tried to get used to being three instead of
two.

Unfortunately for Tom and I, at just 17 days old Nicholas took a sudden turn for the worse. Waking him up for his evening feed, he was limp and listless, as floppy as a rag doll, breathing irregularly. We panicked. We called NHS Direct who sent an ambulance round, but the paramedics could find nothing wrong, suggesting we took him to an out-of-hours surgery for a more detailed check up.

This we did immediately – and just as well. The doctor was concerned enough with what he saw to call an ambulance to take us to Reading A&E. We were beside ourselves with worry when we got there, our nerves shredded – especially when we were asked to step outside the cubicle while the doctors performed a lumbar puncture and extracted urine from his bladder using a long needle.

It was frightening watching our little man lying so helpless and not being able to do anything ourselves to help him when he was so obviously in pain. At 3am he was admitted to the High Dependency Unit, and at 3.45am the results of the test came back. Nicko had Meningitis.

By 9am that morning we were told that had we not come to the hospital, there was a strong chance we’d no longer have our little man with us. That thought is haunting. Not that things got any easier. While the medical team tried to work out what strain of this potentially fatal disease Nicholas had, he started fitting and screaming.

With that brought under control, he was finally diagnosed with Group B Streptococcal bacteria and his targeted treatment could begin – but our upset at seeing our baby hooked up to machines and being fed through an intravenous drip was tempered by the knowledge that he was in good hands. We were emotionally drained but adrenaline kept us going – it had only been 24 hours since we were at home having dinner.

Over the next few days he made progress, but his temperature variations were causing concern. Sure enough Nicholas had developed Septicaemia (blood poisoning) and was finding it hard to fight off both that and Meningitis.

But fight he did, undergoing a brain scan to check for possible damage, having a drug line fed into a vein, and as time progressed he made steady improvements. We were finally allowed home on Friday 13th October. Nicko had been in hospital for 18 days – over half his short life.

Nicholas is still convalescing, his develop ment is slightly behind other babies of his age and the hardest thing for Tom and I to accept is that we still don’t know what his long-term prospects are. The nature of Meningitis means it’s impossible to predict what damage (if any) may have been done. The most important thing is that we still have our little man with us and he’s growing into a happy, smiley baby.

It’s down to the staff of the Royal Berkshire Hospital and Meningitis Research Fund, and the support both they, plus friends and family continue to give us, that we’re able to keep positive. We owe them all an enormous amount.

Mary Hall Born 23rd Nov 1947 in Jarrow, Newcastle Upon Tyne MARY HALL was a mother foremost to her three children, Andrew, Julia and James. She was also wife to Mike and Team Leader for a local health centre. Mary was our mum.

At 57 years of age, Mary Hall had plenty to look forward to in 2005. Plans were on the horizon for retirement with Mike, her eldest son Andrew had just moved to Vancouver so a trip was imminent. Her daughter Julia who had become engaged had just fallen pregnant and this would be Mary’s first grandchild. Her youngest son James was due to get married in September to Georgie. She had a lot to look forward to!

At work, Mary was very committed and took great pride in her work as team leader. Her career and interest in health had spanned over two decades in the pursuit of nursing, midwifery, health visiting and medical research. Mary was a disciplined yet extremely warm and caring person who always gave 100% commitment to her family, friends and career.

Mary fell ill towards the end of June 2005, with terrible headaches at work and had to come home. She went straight to bed, the headache never eased and over 2 days she started vomiting and became less responsive. The local GP was called, antibiotics were prescribed and possible meningitis suspected. An ambulance was called and Mary was rushed to hospital.

Once admitted medical staff performed lumbar punctures and CT scans while consultants tried to understand Mary’s condition. The lumbar punctures were inconclusive as no bacteria were able to be isolated. Mary’s initial diagnosis was bacterial meningitis.

Mary did respond some days after her initial admission and was able to understand and communicate, she was allowed home three weeks later. She stayed home for only two nights before her condition worsened. Upon returning to hospital Mary’s illness deteriorated necessitating her transfer to intensive care. Mary began to have a number of complications with her condition.

Mary fought on and during this time she was able to respond briefly to her family from time to time, nodding and shaking her head to questions. It became increasingly evident that some severe brain damage had occurred and that she may not recover. Mary was in intensive care for some ten days before being transferred to the neurological ward. The last time she showed any response was on Mike’s birthday on August 26 2005. This was the last time she opened her eyes and smiled. She again lost conscious ness and began to deteriorate quickly. Mary died on the 2nd of September at 9am.

Throughout Mary’s illness it was an unclear diagnosis between viral or bacterial meningitis. The cause of her eventual death was given as viral encephalitis. This was believed to have stemmed from viral meningitis or it was possible she had both at the same time known as
meningoencephalitis. Her illness confused all who cared for her as they couldn’t confirm either diagnosis.

It is still hard to understand why her life was taken so early, especially when she was so fit, healthy and active. We may never know the real diagnosis due to meningitis and encephalitis being complex illnesses. But we know she is deeply missed every second of every minute of each day.

We thank all who tried to help her in hospital, friends & family who came to our support and we know she touched so many hearts.

If you would like to know more about encephalitis please goto The Encephalitis Society website:

www.encephalitis.info