In December 2009 my little baby niece Isabelle Scarlett (aged 19 months) started with a temperature and after a few hours began to vomit constantly. No amount of medicine helped, her temperature went off the scale, she was lifeless and had a faint rash of tiny blood spots. My brother Oliver and his wife Julia rushed her to the emergency doctor who said she had a virus and they were sent home. Not satisfied with this advice or her condition, they then took her to their own doctor first thing the next day; he took one look at her and advised them that she was very ill and needed to go straight to hospital.

 15 minutes later they arrived at Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport and were immediately told that Isabelle had suspected Meningitis. From there on it was a fight for survival, her blood was full of the infection Septicemia. The doctors pumped her with gallons of antibiotics, she was so ill, she didn't flinch as needle after needle went in her arms; her parents could only watch on, wishing it was them instead of their precious girl. They had no option but to sit, stare, wait and put all of their trust in the doctors and nurses who were so kind but clearly very concerned.

 

After 3 very long days of hoping and praying, Isabelle opened her eyes and looked at her Daddy, something was different, she was crying, a noise they hadn't heard for a while as she had been too weak to make a sound. Isabelle lifted up her arm, not because she wanted a hug from him, but because she was trying to grab a piece of toast he was eating! :-) From that moment on she came back to life and never looked back, the nightmare was over. After 5 days she was sat up by the window, with the help of a few pillows and looking out at the very first snowflakes coming down. Isabelle was very fortunate to make a good recovery and was even out on time to greet father christmas, but sadly many are not as lucky.

 If you are fortunate enough to be a parent of a healthy and glowing child, and if yours is unusually ill; trust your instincts, act quickly and go straight to hospital, don't wait. Isabelle is one of the lucky ones, needless to say we thank so much the Doctors and Nurses on Stepping Hill's Rainforest Ward who were amazing! Please pass this on to anyone you know who has children, know the warning signs, Meningitis kills in hours, the earlier it is caught the better chance of survival.

 With this in mind, I am running the Manchester 10k run with Isabelle's father, Oliver in Aid of The Meningitis Foundation; to raise money for the vital research needed to battle this awful illness and to help those that weren’t as lucky as our beautiful Isabelle.

 Thank you for taking the time to read this, if it helps one child, we will be very happy! So please dig deep and donate now xxxxxx