Claire Byrne's story

Part 1: The first signs

Hello, my name is Claire Byrne. I'm a broadcaster and journalist, and I'm here today to tell you about my experience with meningitis.

I was 14 when I got bacterial meningitis in 1990. I was in school, we were studying English prose - I remember it well. I had a blinding headache. I couldn't see the words on the page and my father came to collect me that day to bring me home. I remember it was snowing and I was put to bed and my mother quickly realised that something was wrong. She phoned for a doctor and while we were waiting for the doctor to come she had a phone call from her friend and she said, “I think Claire has meningitis”, which was quite extraordinary because it wasn't common and there wasn't much about it in terms of public information. But call it Mother's instinct - she was on the money. 

I have small snatches of memory from that night. I remember seeing the ceiling of the ambulance. I remember somebody saying I was about to have a lumbar puncture, but I was in and out of consciousness. I was very unwell. I had the last rites in the hospital. So, I do remember my mother and my father kneeling beside the side of the bed while the priest put oils on my forehead. That's a very clear memory that I have. 

I responded well to treatment that night and on the following day, which was a Thursday, I was actually in pretty good form. 

Part 2: A critical journey

The day after I went in I was quite well. The day subsequent to that I became very ill again and the decision was made to transfer me from our local hospital in Port Leash in County Leash to Cherry Orchard in an ambulance. It was my mother's job to stay in the back of that ambulance with me and to keep me awake. And I vividly remember her slapping my face the whole way to Dublin and telling me that I couldn't go to sleep when all I really wanted to do was to drift away. 

I had very intensive antibiotic treatment in Dublin. I stayed there for just over two weeks and thankfully I recovered very well.

Part 3: Recovery, awareness and taking action

I was very lucky. I recovered very well from meningitis with minimal side effects. And you know, in my adult life I've met people who have lost children, who have lost limbs, who have lost their hearing, who have lifelong impacts, perhaps their sight has been damaged and so on. So I am very, very fortunate. In the aftermath, I remember for very many months being absolutely exhausted, but I think that's just part of recovering from a serious illness.

So, on World Meningitis Day, I just want to encourage people to familiarise themselves with the symptoms of meningitis. You should know about that unrelenting headache, the stiffness in the back of the neck, the aversion to light, which is really important and I certainly suffered with that at the time. The rash that doesn't disappear when you press a glass against it. If you've any or all of those symptoms, you need to seek help. And doctors and nurses will never say to you you're wasting our time. They want you to get there and to get there on time.

On World Meningitis Day, my hope is that we can save more lives through talking about the symptoms of meningitis, through more research and generally more awareness of the disease.