Bucks Fizz star Jay Aston has warned of the dangers of meningitis as her teenage daughter is currently fighting it.
The singer originally thought that her 18-year-old daughter was suffering from heatstroke. But now, she has recalled the horrifying moment that she realised it was something more severe.
Her daughter, Josie Aston, is currently still in hospital after being diagnosed with bacterial meningitis last month. She was rushed to intensive care, where doctors put her in an induced coma after her organs began to fail. She is still in a specialist kidney unit now.
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The 'devastated' mum told the Mirror of how she rushed her teenage daughter to hospital herself after an ambulance failed to show. At first, she thought it was heatstroke, but later acted quickly as Josie's symptoms worsened.
Jay said: "She’d been lying out in the sun so I thought it was maybe heatstroke. A couple of days before that she’d complained that her joints were aching, which I’d put down to growing pains."
However, Josie later developed a headache, neck pain and a temperature which didn’t come down with paracetamol. The worried mum called 111 who ordered an ambulance, but she ended up driving her sick child to Princess Royal University Hospital in Farnborough, Kent, herself.
Jay explained the moment that she thought it might be something more severe, as she said: "Her temperature reached almost 40. I started to get really worried. In the middle of the night, she said: ‘Mum, I’m not right.’ I saw red dots on her arm."
Within an hour arriving at hospital, Josie’s entire body was covered in the rash and the following day, when her lungs began to fail, she was taken to intensive care where she was put into an induced coma, given oxygen and treated with antibiotics. Josie remained in the coma for five days, with Jay sleeping beside her bed in a chair.
After five days doctors took Josie out of the coma, but there was no improvement. Jay said: "She didn’t come round for two days. They were the two worst days of my life. There was no response. I knew it could go either way. But I couldn’t let myself think that I might lose her."
Eventually, Josie began to improve and finally opened her eyes once more. But her road to recovery isn't over yet as she still remains in hospital.
Jay said: "If she hadn’t been in my bed that night, I’d have lost her. I’m hoping she will make a full recovery, but I’m just elated that’s alive. She’s a great kid; she’s lovely and funny and I’m very lucky and blessed to have her. Whatever happens next, we’ll deal with it."
For more information on all forms of meningitis, and symptoms, visit www.nhs.uk/conditions/meningitis
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