I�m sorry this has taken me so long but here as I promised a while ago (well a LONG while ago lol) sorry I have to laugh or I would probably cry (as I'm sure you can understand) I joined Meningitis Angels a while back now and everyone there has been so kind and the emails I get are very comforting at times as everyone shares their lives and the affects of Meningitis first I want to say a BIG thank you to you and everyone. Here finally is my life or should I say the part of my life that Meningitis affected.

In December of 2000 I found out I was pregnant I had a scan and to our amazement we were expecting twins. We already had 1 daughter (8yrs old) and 3 sons (4, 2, and 1) well that was their ages when we had the twins. The twins were born by c-section at 37 weeks on June 6^th 2001 both boys the first (Morgan) was the biggest and weighed 6lb 5oz the second (Mitchell) was a little smaller at 5lb 3oz but both were healthy. Mitchell had low blood sugars and had to have blood tests every few hours but was fine and both came home on 9^th June.

Well everything was ok (well a little hectic at times as you can imagine we had 5 under 5 years lol)

But we was coping and all was well until the twins turned 4 months old then everything changed .they both slept through the night from about 5 weeks old but this one night 27^th October 2001 I woke up at around 5am to hear a weird grunting like noise coming from the babies cot (they shared the same cot as they were still small enough to do so) I got up and realized the noise was coming from Mitchell he didn�t have any temperature or anything else just this weird noise as he breathed I just thought that maybe he had caught the cold that the other children had all had about a week before ,he was fast asleep so I thought I�d just cuddle him for a while and see how he went. (thinking back on it now how I wish I would never have just pushed it off as the cold) I held him for about an hour maybe a little more then Morgan woke up at around 6ish and wanted his bottle so I softly laid Mitchell back down and sorted out Morgan, at 6.15am my husband bought Mitchell into the front room he too wanted his bottle he was still making that weird sound but he drank all his bottle and seemed fine, the other children were now getting up it was nearly 7am we fed the children and got them washed and dressed I said to my husband I'm not very happy with that sound the baby is making I'm going to phone my mum, I phoned mum and told her what was happening and she said the same thing I had thought he�s probably got that cold but then I said listen to him mum and put the phone near him my mum immediately said phone an ambulance something is wrong better to get it checked out (the doctors wasn�t open as it was a Sunday) so my husband phoned the ambulance and as he put down the receiver about 2minues later a knock at the door it was the rapid response team (they send rapid response if they think you need urgent assistance) the paramedic came in took one look at him and to my horror as I looked his lips were going a blue color he was fine until then the paramedic put him straight on the floor (all the children were there I was so scared) he put him straight on oxygen and said the ambulance will be here very soon. True to his word the ambulance arrived very quick and soon I was on the way to the hospital with my baby son we arrived at the hospital and went straight through to the treatment room where there was a doctor and several other people waiting for him I was allowed to stay with him and hold his little hand as they were tall rushing around him putting in all different tubes and things and taking bloods (I felt helpless I just kept thinking my poor little baby boy he was so good not making any fuss while all this was going on around him he was so brave (my little fighter) a while later I noticed like a little bruise on his little chest and as I was going to ask the doctor what it was he said how long has he had the rash? I said It has just this second come up now what is it? The doctor said at this stage we can�t be too sure but its looking more and more likely that your son has meningitis (I was so scared that had always been my worst nightmare the stuff I had heard about it) he was then moved up to pediatric intensive care where I was told to wait outside while they were putting in yet more tubes and things a very nice nurse asked if she could call anyone for me I said yes please my mum and my husband. After what felt like hours (was probably not even an hour just felt like that) I was greeted by a doctor and a nurse who showed me to a side room and told me to sit down (I was shaking and crying fearing the worst had happened and I wasn�t there) the doctor then started to explain that Mitchell was very ill and despite all their efforts he was not responding very well if at all to the medication and I said please can I see him now he said yes but please brace yourself as he doesn�t look very good and as I walked through the door I just froze my poor little baby boy was now covered from head to toe in this horrible bruise like rash and had tubes and things coming out everywhere I asked if they had a chaplain as I wanted him to be christened and they sorted that out very quickly the chaplain was a very nice lady who once in the room never left my side (until my mum and my husband arrived quite a while later) Mitchell was just deteriorating very quick and the chaplain christened him ay 3.14pm and then his heart stopped beating and at 3.17pm on 28^th, October 2001 my precious little baby boy Mitchell went to heaven then they took all the tubes and stuff out and let me hold him I didn�t want to let go of him not ever they said that�s fine you take all the time you need , then the curtain opened and my husband walked in I didn�t know what to say or how to say it he just came and hugged both of us and my mum held all of us as we just cried no one said a word until the chaplain said I really need to get going now but here's my number if you need it. Awhile later one of the nurses said something to my mum and then mum told me they have to take him now love I held him so tight please don�t take him please my husband and my mum held me while the nurse prized him out of my arms and then the doctor came in and said he needed someone to bring the other twin and the 1 yr old (as he was ill that morning too) so they could check them over Morgan was fine and they gave him and everyone else antibiotics and they kept my other son in as they thought he may have it but luckily he was ok and he had a virus (probably the cold) he was allowed home a week later and was fine.

I'm going to have to sign off now as my eyes are so full I cant see what I'm typing very well.

Sorry this took so long Frankie and thank you so much for being so patient with me I know you understand

Love n (((hugs)))

Julia (Mitchell�s mum)