A few hours later I went to get up to go to the toilet and fell on the floor and started vomiting. My mum heard me and called up the stairs. She noticed that I was covered in a rash and was drifting in and out of consciousness. So she called our emergency GP who came out to look at me and was not sure what it was. He thought I had the flu. He got a second opinion and this doctor called an ambulance straight away as he was not sure what it was either, but my temperature was dangerously high and I was now unconscious.
I was taken to Edgware General Hospital where I was eventually diagnosed with meningococcal septicaemia. I was taken to the intensive care ward and my mum and brother were told that I was seriously ill and may not make it through the night, but, if I did, I would probably lose both my legs and fingers due to septicaemia.
Fortunately I made it through the night but was still very ill and was in a coma and had to have my legs amputated to stop the infection. So I had one below knee and one above knee amputation and three fingers on my right hand. I was in a coma for a few days but gradually got better and was eventually taken off the ventilator and out of intensive care after several weeks and moved to another ward.
I was transferred to Mount Vernon Hospital to have skin grafts on my right leg as the septicaemia had eaten away so much of my skin. This meant around another three months in hospital until the skin grafts healed and I was well enough to be let home. I only needed to come back as an outpatient every week until they completely healed.
Once my skin graft had completely healed I was able to go to Stanmore Orthopaedic Hospital to be fitted with prosthetic legs. I was finally able to walk again after many weeks of intensive physiotherapy every day. I eventually left the hospital walking out of the ward using two sticks, which was something that I never expected to do after contracting this terrible disease. Over time I was able to walk with one stick and finally no sticks at all. I have had much better prosthetic legs over the years which has allowed me to live as normal life as possible doing a full time job and most things an able bodied person can.