Wyatt Howard's story

My newborn son started showing signs of a viral illness at around two weeks of age like a snotty nose and congestion. He never had a fever. I took him to the paediatrician twice over the next two weeks.

They dismissed us as his vitals were fine and he had no fever. We were told to let the virus run its course.

An unexpected diagnosis

We saw the paediatrician on a Thursday and by the Friday, my son was being life flighted three hours from our home, where he had to be intubated and fought for his life for the next 48 hours.

A spinal tap confirmed he had viral meningitis. It was a parent’s worst nightmare, but we are lucky and thankful he is alive.

The first year

He just turned one. It has been a very rough year. But overall, he is healthy. Since his meningitis, we have battled developmental delays, feeding issues and more. It hasn’t been easy. He goes to therapy every week. We are hopeful he will have no permanent damage, but we can’t be 100% sure about the future yet. We just have to be thankful we have today and we have a healthy baby right now.

His meningitis was viral and could not have been prevented by a vaccine. It was most likely transmitted by myself or my husband. As careful as we were with clean hands and not spreading germs it can still happen to anyone.

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