Théo Curin's story

It all began one morning in May 2006 when I had my first symptoms: severe headaches and neck stiffness. My mother immediately took me to the paediatrician, who said it was a virus and just told me to take some Tylenol (painkillers) and get some rest.

I felt worse and worse as the morning wore on: it became very difficult to move around, my body felt increasingly heavy, and, all of a sudden, the thermometer read more than 41 degrees Celsius.

‘I immediately had a seizure’

So, my father came to pick me up at the babysitter’s house and took me home, but I immediately had a seizure. The ambulance arrived very quickly and took me to the emergency room at the hospital in Luneville.

The emergency physician quickly suspected meningitis, as blue spots had started to appear on my body. The diagnosis was confirmed a few hours later with a lumbar puncture: bacterial meningitis with purpura fulminans.

‘The bacteria continued to spread’

I was transferred right away to the children’s hospital in Nancy and stayed there for three months. The medical team tried several treatments to stop the bacteria, which was causing tissue death in my limbs, but nothing worked. The bacteria continued to spread.

‘A new beginning for me’

After multiple complications, the decision was made to amputate first one leg, then the other, and then one arm and finally the other. I left the hospital after a few weeks and started two years of rehabilitation. I relearned how to do all my everyday tasks and participated in a special educational program. It was a new beginning for me!

‘We can push our limits despite the difficulties we face’

This whole ordeal shaped who I am and inspired me to keep fighting. Each new daily skill to learn was a goal I wanted to reach: eating by myself, writing again, swimming, etc. Now I am constantly setting myself new challenges so I can keep moving forward and show everyone that we can push our limits despite the difficulties we face.

I am also committed to raising awareness among as many people as possible about the symptoms that should be identified right away because meningitis is truly a race against time.

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