A teenage pre-school worker nearly lost her life from meningitis after she shared drinks with her friends on a night out.
Lily Williamson, 19, contracted meningococcal meningitis group B (MenB), which led to sepsis and left her unable to move after she went clubbing on March 20 at nightclub Popworld in Reading, Berkshire.
Concerns for Ms Williamson’s health escalated on March 24 after she, having already suffered from aches and pains, began vomiting. This prompted her mother to take her to the doctors.
The teenager was rushed to Basingstoke Hospital after becoming ‘basically unresponsive’ at the doctors, and went into septic shock in the back of the ambulance. She then spent eight days in intensive care.
How Ms Williamson contracted the disease remains unknown. However, she believes it is ‘pretty likely’ she caught it from sharing drinks while in Reading, where two separate cases of meningitis were reported two months later.
Ms Williamson, from Basingstoke, suffered from the same meningitis strain, MenB, that spread across Kent earlier this year.
The fatal outbreak in March led to the deaths of two people and resulted in thousands being given the MenB jab or antibiotics in a bid to curb the spread.
Ms Williamson, a preschool key practitioner, said: ‘I went out on Friday night to Popworld in Reading and was sharing drinks with people and didn’t think anything of it.
‘When you share drinks when you’re out with mates you don’t think anything of it, it is a completely normal thing to do, but that is most likely where I caught it.’
Ms Williamson said she felt ‘fine’ over the weekend, but by Monday she ‘started getting aches and pains’, while her temperature ‘shot up to 39.8C’ from 37.1C within an hour.
She said: ‘I barely slept overnight and was throwing up so my mum took me to the doctors and they called an ambulance there because I was basically unresponsive.
‘In the ambulance I went into septic shock but I honestly don’t remember it, I was so out of it.’
‘I just remember waking up in hospital and my mum was crying over me saying the doctors will help,’ Ms Williamson added.
The teenager said her mother had been warned her daughter might not wake up.
Once in hospital, Ms Williamson described having a tube stitched into her neck with five or six attachments, as well as drips administering antibiotics and other fluids.
She added doctors were surprised she had not experienced any neck stiffness or developed a rash before being hospitalised, adding her main symptom was ‘pain all over her body’, which made it ‘hurt to stand up’.
Early symptoms of meningitis typically include a high temperature, vomiting, a rash and neck stiffness.
Ms Williamson continued: ‘I didn’t have the energy to talk. I couldn’t sleep, I was so hot and just couldn’t get my temperature down.
‘I looked so pale and unwell but I almost died so that makes sense. I honestly want to make people more aware of the symptoms.
‘You genuinely don’t think it’s going to be anything serious, they are the normal symptoms that you would get with any illness, flu or cold.’
‘I didn’t have any neck stiffness or rash and mine was really really serious,’ she added.
Ms Williamson remained in hospital until Easter Sunday and was only allowed visitors wearing masks and protective clothing.
Despite her ordeal, she praised the medical team that looked after her. Ms Williamson said: ‘The care at Basingstoke Hospital was amazing and everyone there was so lovely.
‘If the doctors weren’t as quick as they were then I wouldn’t have been as lucky as I was.’
MenB is highly contagious and can cause blood poisoning (sepsis). It can lead to life-changing disabilities such as amputations, hearing loss, brain damage and scars.
Ms Williamson loved clubbing before the incident but is now petrified of catching anything.
She said: ‘I haven’t been out since March because I am so terrified of catching something.
‘I used to love going out with my friends but now I tend to just avoid it which is sad.’
Even though it has been months since she was hospitalised, Ms Williamson said she is still suffering from the effects of the disease.
She said: ‘I still get really bad headaches and I never used to get exhausted, but now if I do long strenuous stuff I get exhausted quite quickly.
‘I am a busy person and I always like to be doing stuff, but when I had meningitis I wasn’t allowed to work or go out and it drove me insane.’
