Meningitis Trust

Hi I'm Megan.

My brother Ted had meningitis at the age of two. He is now twelve.

The meningitis that Ted had has affected his growth plates, and caused him many problems in his development.

Ted was two when he contracted Meningococcal Septicaemia. Having been in intensive care for two and a half weeks he pulled through. He stayed in hospital for a further eight weeks before coming home.

Not knowing much about meningitis and the effects it has on people’s lives my family and I turned to the Meningitis Trust for support. The help has been great and ten years on we have fundraised over £28,000 for the Trust. Mum still goes for counselling to talk about the everyday stress of life as it involves many trips to Bristol for various appointments with Ted.

When Ted was five, doctors noticed that his legs were bowing and this has been the main surgery Ted has undergone since. He is on his fifth round of frames which are put on to lengthen and straighten his legs because the growth plates were affected by the meningitis. 

This means that without this procedure he would be dislocated at the hips and knees. Many problems have come about with Ted over the past few years. He struggles at school because of a poor attention span, and gets bullied for the way he is.