Alfie Cook's story

Three weeks prior to our son being admitted to hospital, we thought he had a typical cold coming. Normal runny nose and sore throat. By the second week, this progressed to ear ache as well as feeling tired. We still at this point thought he was ok and had a cold/flu. Then I decided to take him to the doctors and see if he had an ear infection, which he has always suffered with growing up. Sure enough, the doctor said he had an ear infection in both ears, so gave him some antibiotics. He still wasn't improving after a five days course which was unusual for him.

So we went back again, and he said he's still got the infection and was starting to be in a lot of pain with his body and neck. The doctor gave him a much stronger dose of antibiotics to try, so I took him home and popped him to bed. This was in the morning.

After just two doses of the stronger antibiotics, I decided this wasn't right and was starting to get worried as he was crying in pain. Not long after this, I couldn't wake him up. At which point we phoned 111 and rushed him up to A&E. The words meningitis and "an ambulance won't be quick enough" are terrifying.

Nothing was showing up on his tests, he started vomiting and stopped eating and drinking all together. In just three days he lost a stone in weight was severely dehydrated and couldn't keep anything down. He had three different antibiotics and was on a drip for fluids for three days. There was no rash and only a temp of 38°C, so not really high. It was difficult to diagnose and only started as a cold.

When he came home, he could barely walk. He had three weeks off school and then would only do half days as he would cry being unable to walk due to his legs hurting so much. Unfortunately, due to the severity of the ear infection he has a permanent perforated ear drum, and now suffers with tired and wobbly legs. It took almost two weeks to stop vomiting and almost a year for his legs and weight to get back to normal. It was terrifying to see nothing working to help him. Almost a year to recover. He's still improving slowly over time. His energy levels are finally back to normal after over a year.

We completely understand how severe this disease is, and sympathy goes out to everyone affected by this.

He had no rash no high temperature, just ear infection and severe neck and body pain. When it took over it was only a matter of hours! We never thought it was meningitis, it never crossed our minds but now it's 100% something to be aware of. We are glad we trusted our gut feeling and took him to hospital because I think it would have been a different story if I didn't check him when I did.

Our blessings to all the families affected by this, it definitely needs more awareness.