Meningitis Trust

Hi Everbody,

Just thought I would share my experiences with meningococcal sempticemia both negtive and positive.

I woke up one morning, I had been out the night before,
Put my headache & nausea down to the drink, but was it something more?
I decided to get out of bed and run myself a bath,
Maybe that would help me feel better and get me back on the right path.
When I stepped into the bath, it was as cold as cold can be,
I had only run the cold tap, but I got in.. didn't seem strange to me,
for my brain was fogged and although I wasn't aware,
Meningitis was attacking me, I sat in the ice cold bath and stared.
In hindsight the doc told me that this probably saved my life,
bringing my temperature right down and easing the strife.
After an hour or so I tried to get out of this freezing cold place,
but ended up collapsing on the floor flat on my face.
I realised that I had lost the power to move either of my legs,
but for some reason it didn't scare or phase me I just dragged myself to bed.
Awaking hours later, my mother arrived home and I heard her say
Myke is up there still in bed? He's been there most of the day.

Then a light so much brighter than any other,
penetrated my eyes like the sun and I yelled to my mother,
She switched the light off and checked me over and could see a small rash,
She gave me normal painkillers and they came back up in a flash.
I heard her arguing with the doctor on the phone, demanding he came out,
When he arrived I could see that his face had lost all doubt,
He proceeded to fill a large syringe and Pale as a lily
Injected me with antibiotics but snapped the needle.. silly.
According to my mother, I never even flinched
That's when she realised I was losing my life, inch by inch
Get him to the hospital I overheard the doc say,
I tried to get myself to my feet, but they didn't want to play,
So I was carried by my dad and brother, down the staircase,
My feel flapped around cartoon-like and a smirk came over my face,
as for some reason it was so funny to me at the time,
willing my legs to walk but it was as though they weren't even mine.
Blackness..............
I woke a week later to find myself in a strange quarantine bed,
I was very confused and really thought that I might actually be dead,
Everything was hazy and something was making my arm feel funny,
when I scratched I felt something come out of my arm then something runny,
I switched the light on after what seemed like an eternity,
I had pulled out my drip and my blood was all over the room and me.
Pushing the nurses buzzer I sat back on the bed,
and pushed my drip back in my arm, I don't know what was going on in my head.
After some assistance I was helped back to bed
Confusion light a freight train running through my head.
I awoke 5 days later, feeling a little better and awake
I took a look in the mirror and realised, I was as thin as a rake
I had lost most of my body, that I had worked very hard to build,
instead I looked gaunt, emaciated, someone who had nearly been killed.
But the killer was out of my system and now was the time,
to build myself back together, one piece at a time.


I had meningococcal septicemia over 15 years ago. Similar to most of you I have experienced the side effects, ranging from

o Migraines 5 times a week
o Lack of confidence in myself
o Increased confidence in other areas, such as freeclimbing
o Depression
o Feeling very different from my peers
o Feeling isolated
o Need for physical affection (hugs)
o Loss of over half of my long term memory
o Trouble with my short term memory

Most of these symptoms eased over the years, using meditation and my own form of "nature therapy" which I devised and have helped others though their own situations with this form of therapy, involving spending large amounts of time outdoors in out natural environment.
All of these issues are still with me, but it's a case of working through life a day at a time.

Some of the positive benefits of meningitis for me are
o Increase in empathy for others
o An inner need to help others
o Lowered levels of anger
o Living for the day
o More respect for life but also open to trying more risky practises
o I want to spend my life helping others out of bad situations or at least helping them to deal with them better.

Thanks for reading, if anyone wants to chat or have some more info, please get in touch.