On Sept 14th in 2012, I was 29 years old.That day I started to feel sick at work so I decided to go home and rest. That night a girlfriend of mine decided to stay with me. Only 24hrs after the first symptom, I had seizures so my friend called an ambulance.
I was driven to the Emergency Unit, stayed in coma for 4 days and when I woke up my face was paralysed as well as all my body below my stomach and I had lost my memory and balance. My diagnosis was bacterial meningoccocal meningitis and today I suffer spinal cord injury so I have to walk with crutches.
Meningitis is awful and can change your life in a second. Doctors told me I would never be able to walk again. I exercise every day since then to prove to myself that I am capable of anything.
Today I am the Secretary of the unique patients association that fights again meningitis in Spain: AEM. I live a happy life with my dog in a beautiful southern spanish city called Malaga
Irene Lopez
May 2023