Last Tuesday, Millie went to school – bright and bubbly, as usual.
Her father, Tim Dawson, had no reason to suspect that hours later she would be fighting for her life.
The school called around 10.30am, saying the four-year-old was unwell. She went to the doctor who gave her a prescription and told her to rest. She started vomiting that afternoon.
She was almost unresponsive by 5.30pm.
But Tim still she had no idea his daughter had bacterial meningitis, or meningococcal septicaemia, because there was no sign of a rash – the most commonly known symptom of the disease.
Now, Tim is warning other parents about the early signs of meningococcal to spare them the heartache he and his wife endured as they desperately waited for their little girl to pull through.
He says the spots were “more like small bruises and scratches”.
The UK father’s initial post has already been shared more than 100,000 times.
After spending more than a week in a hospital bed hooked up to machines, little Millie was discharged from hospital yesterday.
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I just want to make something clear - bacterial meningitis and meningococcal septicaemia are not the same thing.
Bacterial meningitis is a bacterial infection of the tissue that surrounds the brain, and can be cause by a number of different bacteria.
Meningococcal septicaemia is infection in the blood caused by Neisseria meningitidis, a specific type of bacteria. Meningococcal is the disease where you look for the specific rash mentioned. Although it can occur with other conditions, this is the reason why parents should get their children seen if they do the glass test (when the rash doesn't fade if a glass is pressed against it). However, like in this instance, often the child is very unwell before the rash appears.
Some very unlucky people can have both meningitis and septicaemia from the same bacteria, but they are two different diseases and I find from seeing patients that this confusion is often a source of distress for parents.
That is scary....I didn't know bacterial meningitis didn't cause a rash - thanks for your post!