A MOTHER has shared her first-hand experience of meningitis to help bring the illness and its symptoms into the spotlight for Meningitis Awareness Week.

Gemma Ind, of Cam, watched her daughter Isabella battle for her life after contracting meningitis and septicaemia at just 17 weeks old.

Mrs Ind is now encouraging people to learn the symptoms and ensure any diagnosis is made as early as possible.

When Isabella was first diagnosed with pneumococcal meningitis in December, 2006, Mrs Ind was forced to confront the worst fears of a mother.

Isabella, who is now eight, did not break out in a rash, one of the more common and well-known symptoms of condition.

Several doctors initially failed to recognise the problem, but Isabella’s high pitched scream let Mrs Ind know that something was seriously wrong.

She said: “I had never heard a sound like that come from her before. I can’t stress how important the high pitched scream was in recognising what was wrong with her.

“She didn’t have a rash. If I had waited any longer she wouldn’t be here today.”

Isabella was referred to Stroud General Hospital by her doctors, then Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, in Gloucester, where steps leading to a diagnosis were made.

What followed was a whirlwind of medical tests and analysis while Isabella’s life hung in the balance.

On December 22, after a few days in the hospital, a consultant named Gabriel diagnosed Isabella with meningitis.

The intensive treatment she received lasted for more than two weeks.

Mrs Ind said: “A lot of the time it was like watching a scene of Holby City or ER but actually being in it.

“I remember there coming a time when she was seriously ill and I had to ask myself, ‘what if she dies?’ After that I started living only for the next two hours.

“I couldn’t see past that. I just had to take every step as it came.”

Despite making it through the worst stages, Isabella was left with a range of residual effects from her experience.

As a result of the disease she has partial deafness in her left ear, several allergies, severe acute asthma and recurring chest and ear infections.

After Isabella’s experience, Mrs Ind became involved with Thornbury-based Meningitis Research Foundation.

She said: “I’m just trying to raise as much awareness as I can because it’s really important.

“People need to be aware of the symptoms and not just the most common ones.”

Meningitis kills one in ten people it affects and leaves a quarter of survivors with life altering side-effects ranging from deafness and brain damage to loss of limbs.

Children under five and students are most at risk but the disease can strike at any age and not all forms are covered by vaccines.

Information on symptoms, research and case studies can be found online at www.meningitis.org

Meningitis Awareness Week runs from September 15 to 21.