Food poisoning fear was meningitis
23.04.11
WHEN Dan Wilson was struck down by what he thought was a bad case of food poisoning, he never imagined the nightmare that lay ahead.
The 20-year-old, of Gorse Hill, had enjoyed a meal cooked by his brother in February last year when he started throwing up.
Just 24 hours later, the University of Gloucestershire student was four hours from death and in a coma at Great Western Hospital. It wasn't food poisoning – it was meningitis.
To mark World Meningitis Day tomorrow, Dan has spoken out about his experience to help raise awareness about the illness and its symptoms.
"On Saturday I was being sick all night, I thought it was food poisoning and I blamed my brother," he said.
When Dan was still throwing up on Sunday he phoned the NHS helpline and visited the walk-in centre and was told on both occasions that it was a bad case of flu.
"My head felt like it was going to explode and I carried on being sick," he said. "I thought 'maybe I'm just over-reacting, maybe it is just flu'. Then I got the rash."
Dan recognised the symptoms of meningitis from a calendar he had been given by his university and rushed to Great Western Hospital with his parents.
"By this point I couldn't stand the light and was still being sick," he said.
"I was able to walk to the car but once we arrived at hospital I was staggering everywhere. I could barely walk and was sick in the waiting area.
"I can't remember much more until I woke up four days later.
"They later told me if I had got to hospital a couple of hours later I would have been dead. I could have died within four hours. All my organs were failing. I was really lucky I went when I did."
Dan was diagnosed with meningococcal septicaemia, a type of blood poisoning caused by the bacterial form of meningitis.
"Everyone who I had been in contact with had to have antibiotics as well," he said.
About 50 per cent of people die from meningococcal septicaemia and Dan said he feels lucky to be alive. He says people should look out for the warning signs of meningitis, but should not necessarily wait for the rash to appear.
"The rash is the septacaemia – it's where the bacteria gets into your blood," he said. "With just meningitis on its own, you only have a 10 per cent chance of dying – when you get the rash it goes up to 40 or 50 per cent.
"It's really weird because it just comes on so quick, you just don't expect it. Saturday afternoon I was playing football, Sunday night I was on life support.
"It's like flu so just be careful – if you have a massive headache, go to hospital."
Last year Dan ran the Chippenham Half Marathon to raise money for Meningitis UK.
For more information visit www.meningitisuk.org
MeningitisUK · Registered Charity No.1076774
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