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When Lilly Exley complained about a sore neck, her mom Leanne Scott already had a hunch on what it could possibly be. In less than 24 hours, Lilly was already placed on life support in intensive care. Leanne noticed a rash on her daughter, and she already knew that it was meningitis, The Sun reports.
Lilly, five years old, slept right next to her mom when she started feeling ill. The next morning, Leanne was shocked to see that Lilly was covered in red marks that continued to spread all over the little girl’s body.
Leanne, who’s 33 years old, said, “I felt sick to my stomach. I knew instinctively it was meningitis.”
Lilly was immediately taken to Wansbeck Hospital in Ashington where she was eventually diagnosed with meningitis B and septicemia. It has been a year since the incident. Leanne wants other parents to be more aware and learn about the symptoms of meningitis.
Leanne said, “I don’t think people realize how quickly you can nearly lose your child. I just knew. I screamed for her dad and said: ‘She’s got meningitis’. We rushed her straight to hospital, we knew there was no time to wait for an ambulance. That’s when our nightmare began.”
Lilly was administered penicillin and then transferred to Newcastle’s Great North Children’s Hospital, where she was taken care of by a team of doctors, nurses, and consultants. They made the decision to put Lilly in a medically induced coma.
The little girl’s parents had to wait for two days in the pediatric intensive care unit while she was on life support. Leanne said, “It was the longest 48 hours in my life. It was just a whirlwind – you can’t really believe you’re in it.”
She continued, “There were a lot of ups and downs over the next 12 days, but after around four days she started to come around. Then it was a case of monitoring her.”
Lilly, who goes to Central First School, went back to visit the hospital and thanked the medical team who made her feel well again. She gave them a check for almost $2,000. The money came from the fundraising campaign Leanne had in the form of a charity football match.
Leanne, who works as a health and safety advisor, said, “Being in hospital with Lilly was just a horrific time – it was the worst experience of my life. But we were really lucky we got there in time and she got the help she needed. If not it might have been a completely different story.”
