Isobel was 13 months old when she developed meningitis in January 1960.
She was listless, off her food, flushed and kept crying. I called the doctor on the first day but our usual GP was away and a young locum came. He simply said she wasn't very well.
The next day she was worse and I called him again. I suggested that it might be meningitis, but he brushed aside the idea. He said he would call the following day. By this time she was a very sick child, but he still took no action. On the fourth day our usual GP came and within an hour Isobel was in Booth Hall Children's Hospital, Manchester.
There she was under the care of Doctor Holzel, a wonderful paediatrician, who supervised her progress for many years. She was at once given a lumbar puncture, which confirmed meningitis.
My husband and I were terribly anxious for the next two weeks, during which time she improved daily. She was given penicillin. After a month she came home. The next few months were also worrying but she gradually began to walk and her speech - which had always been good - progressed normally.
At the age of two years she was given an EEG, which came out normal. She went to school at the age of four and a half and made normal progress and was an early good reader. She was an average pupil and gained several GCSEs and CSEs.
I have always felt quite certain that she contracted the disease in the local day nursery, which was very cold one morning when I left her. I had called the attention of a member of staff to the low temperature of the place. The type of meningitis she contracted was pneumococcal meningitis.