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As you may know my partner Tracey’s teenage daughter Holly called us on New Years Day complaining she felt unwell and thought she may be suffering from food poisoning. Like most people in our position we were not unduly concerned but decided anyway to go and collect her from the friends house where she was staying. On arrival it was evident she was sick so with a couple of impromtu roadside stops en route we took her home and put her to bed.

However as time went on her complaints of a severe headache and stiffness in her neck and legs led her mother to call for advice, she then called an ambulance who in turn called a specialist who insisted she be hospitalised immediately.

At York A & E Holly’s condition deteriorated rapidly, as the time ticked by the number of specialists visiting Holly was only eclipsed by the number of lines being attached to her. As the senior nurse asked if we would like to see the Chaplain it became clear just how gravely ill Holly had become. Unbeknown to us she had contracted Meningacocal Meningitis and was shortly to be put into a medically induced coma, and stay on life support for two days.

The level of care Holly received was quite simply amazing, her recovery with only minor side effects has been described by the doctors who cared for her as “miraculous”, and perhaps this is the case. What is definitely true is that before this we knew very litte of the disease that nearly took Holly from us, we were ill informed and unprepared.

So in an effort to help assist those that may have to follow in our footsteps, I have decided to make some footsteps of my own and cover some miles to raise funds for the Meningitis trust, a body that helps families like our own to understand the disease they are dealing with.

I intend to walk from one side of the country to the other in 10 days. The walk first described by Alfred Wainwright stretches 190 miles for St Bees Head in Lancashire to Robin Hoods Bay on the east coast, and I hope you can sponsor me to go the distance when I do the walk in May. Perhaps you might even join me for part of the way?!

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