Alice Jenkins' story

I contracted meningitis in May 2022 whilst I was in my first year of university. I was in my University Halls in Edinburgh, Scotland when I woke up one morning and found it very hard to move. All my muscles ached. I slept most of the day, had cold sweats and couldn’t eat. I thought I had COVID because my flatmates had had it the week before.

Growing fear and rapid decline

That evening my friends brought me some Nurofen which I took and fell asleep. When I woke up around 8pm, I was sweating profusely and had a rash all over my body. I FaceTimed my mum crying. She immediately told me to put a glass on my arm but the only glass that I had in my room was tinted. She told me to call 999 which I didn’t want to do so she asked me to get one of my friends to come and help me. A friend came down and called an ambulance for me.

I went to hospital, convinced that none of my friends needed to come because I was fine, I was just worried about the rash. Once I was in hospital, I got a lot worse very quickly. I don’t remember much. A friend followed me into hospital because she wasn’t convinced that I was okay. She found me on a hospital bed several hours later, unable to talk and she described me as ‘green’. She tried to feed me but I threw it all up straight away.

I was moved into a dark room and could barely open my eyes. Whenever I woke up, it would be to throw up and I couldn’t lift my body so I would just throw up on myself. Two friends stayed with me until a nurse told them to leave early in the morning and get some sleep. My friend had to call my mum and tell her how ill I was. I remember needing the toilet and saying ‘help’ but I was barely audible so nobody could hear me. I had to wait for my mum who arrived in Edinburgh a few hours later (we live in Surrey, near London).

Diagnosis and life-saving care

The next thing I remember was several doctors looking at me and I was in a different room. They were performing a lumbar puncture. I was barely conscious. The next time I woke up I was in a different room and was starting to get better. I was transferred to a different hospital with an infectious diseases ward.

I was in hospital for a week and am lucky enough to have made a full recovery. The doctors and nurses at the hospital saved my life. My mum sending me to hospital saved my life.

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