Meningitis in your words

Logane Miller's story

  • Location: England
  • Categories: Meningococcal
  • Age: Baby 0-1
  • Relationship: Parent
  • Outcome: Recovery with after effects
  • After effects: Amputations
Logane Miller

My daughter was born on the 7th of February 2008 and the year following was such a whirlwind. In short she was resuscitated at birth, had bronchiolitis at three weeks old then developed reflux - which left her screaming whenever I tried to feed her - and was constantly sick.

By the time the doctors told me she had a water infection at four months old I couldn't possibly think that my beautiful daughter could get anything else. The rest of the year she was fine except bouts of sickness and screaming but by that time I had learnt to deal with that. 

We enjoyed her first Christmas and new year and hoped that the new year would bring her health, however on the 6th of January that had all changed, 

Logane had woken in the night and had been sick. She was already in my bed as she had had trouble sleeping because of teething, but I hadn't thought of anything of it, Logane being sick was nothing out of the ordinary. As she was still asleep I cleaned her up and went back to sleep myself as it was 4am. 

I woke up at 8am and she was grey and wasn't happy that I woke her up. I changed her nappy and noticed a funny mottled colour on her legs so I took her and my three-year-old son to my doctors who we live two minutes away from and waited for an appointment. We were seen shortly after and dismissed just as quickly with antibiotics for a throat infection. 

I brought her home and got her dressed; my mum had come by as I had told her that Logane wasn't well and as I took off her babygrow we noticed three purple marks on her arm and back. I called a neighbour to take us to A&E; the triage nurse quickly took us through to resuscitation and I lost count of how many doctors and nurses came in but somewhere between the madness I heard the words meningitis.

Logane lost consciousness as they were frantically trying to get cannulas in to give antibiotics, she was then moved to HDU and put on life support. At 11am and we were then told that Logane would have to be transferred to Leicester Royal Infirmary so at 5pm on the 6th January 2009 we made our way to Leicester from Northampton, not knowing what was happening in the ambulance somewhere ahead of us. We arrived at the hospital around 6pm and had to wait until 8pm to be able to see her. By that time her tiny body was covered in the purple blotches and she was so swollen. I was told that was because she was going into organ failure and her kidneys weren't working properly. A doctor pulled me aside and said that if she didn't produce urine within the hour she would be transferred to Glenfields Hospital. 

We arrived at the third hospital at 11pm that night, again waited two hours until we were able to see her. She had so many tubes and wires attached to her and was now on dialysis but they still hadn't been able to stabilise her blood pressure and we were told she had a high chance that she had suffered brain damage. 

Two days later Logane was taken for a CT scan and had a EEG done to determine what damage had been done to her brain, but the tests came back clear - amazing. In total she was on dialysis and life support for nine days and then we were transferred back to Leicester Royal Infirmary, where we were told that Logane would need to go to Birmingham Children's Hospital to have some amputations, although how much of her legs she would lose was still unclear. 

A week later I was allowed to travel in the ambulance with her to the fourth hospital; after two days she was back in ICU and on life support with pneumonia, but she battled on and was back on the ward after three days. 

"My brave little girl has never stopped smiling"

On the 31st of January she went into theatre and five and a half hours later I went to get her from recovery. I didn't know what to expect but there she was, a week before her first birthday, perched on pillows smiling at me I couldn't have been more proud if I tried. She had lost her right leg below her knee and her left fore foot. She has a lot of scarring but my brave little girl has never stopped smiling. 

After a few home leaves we were finally discharged from hospital on the 1st of April and she is lively little girl and has touched everyone's hearts that she has met. Her older brother adores her and although they argue I know he will look out for her when me and her dad cannot. 

Logane is now 18 months old and we are waiting to find out when she will have the rest of her left foot amputated - as this is what we've been told will give her the best chance of walking - and then we can look forward to the day she gets her legs and can take her first steps. I truly cannot wait!!! She is my inspiration!

October 2012 update - Logane is still as bubbly as ever bless her, and before her recent operation she was walking, running, riding a scooter and attempting to ride a bike on her prosthetic legs we are so very proud of her. 

Her recent operation was to straighten her left leg after her growth plates had been affected by the meningitis. She has had a 8pin plate put in and also had her leg broken Logane was in a full leg cast for four weeks and she started school just two weeks after her operation and after a week of part time she has started full time. 

She has made loads of new friends her personality shines out and children and adults alike find it hard not to like her, everyone seems to accept her the way she is and never gets many questions. 

Soon we will hopefully start the process again to have new limbs made and fitted so that she can once again stand tall with her peers and hopefully master the bike riding this time. She may get knocked down many times with the after effects of meningitis but it will never keep her down for long.

Kristy Noyce
September 2009