Sarah Cowan's story

Hi, I'm 31 years old and I almost died from spinal meningitis when I was 4 years old.

I don't remember much about my childhood and I have bad memory loss, but I can remember some of the treatments that the doctors gave me in the hospital. I remember doctors putting needles in my spine and taking fluid out every couple of hours and then pumping medicine in. I remember that when I turned about six I started getting pains all through my back, legs, arms and head. 

My parents took me to a few different doctors but they all said I was having normal growing pains and never looked into nor treated my symptoms. All throughout my childhood, adolescence and now into adulthood. I still have these same complications but they have gotten worse and other things have risen throughout the years.

Now the doctors are telling me I could have either muscular dystrophy, multiple sclorosis, an auto immune disease or an indocrine disorder. But, with my age, none of them want to run the tests and none of them believe me that I had spinal meningitis - nor do they acknowledge the disease. When I tell them I had it, they again tell me "nothing is wrong, you're too young to have these problems"

I can't get the papers from where I was in the hospital and almost died over this because it was so long ago that the hospitals have already gotten rid of the files. I'm at a loss with my health issues and I'm only getting worse.

Sarah Cowan
June 2016