A heartbroken mother has warned parents to learn the signs of meningitis after her daughter died just six hours after first showing symptoms.
Siobhan O’Carroll from Ireland had gone to the hospital for a check up after feeling sick during pregnancy when she recieved a call from her husband later the same evening about her four-year-old daughter Aoibhe’s sudden illness, reports the Irish Mirror.
Having only spoken to her child a few hours earlier when she "told them that I loved them", she quickly found herself powerless as Aoibhe’s condition took a turn for the worse.
Recalling the tragedy that quickly unfolded on one day in 2011 in a discussion on RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland this week, Siobhan said: "A few hours later I got a call from their dad Noel, to say Aoibhe wasn’t feeling herself, that she was sick with vomiting and diarrhoea.
“As the night progressed, she became more unwell, her dad rang the out of hours service, he told them the symptoms, and said he was concerned."
They advised dad Noel to check if bright lights bothered her, and to keep an eye on her.
He rang Siobhan to say that Aoibhe had slowly closed her eyes as he brought her down the stairs, and an ambulance was on the way, he told Siobhan: “It’s not good, Siobhan.”
“As we stood in A&E, we saw the consultant, and a priest walked towards us and said, ‘we’re really sorry your little girl is gone.”
“From six hours of being sick Aoibhe had passed away from Meningitis, it was the speed of Meningitis that cannot be put into words, the speed at which your life can change.”
Since her daughter's sad passing Siobhan has set up the charity ACT for Meningitis, where she raises awareness of the illness and its treatments in children.
Above all she wants parents to learn the symptoms so they can seek medical attention for their kids should the worst ever happen, saying: “Make yourselves aware of the signs and symptoms of Meningitis, with it symptoms can appear in any order, or may not appear at all, trust your instincts, you know your child, if you're concerned, get medical attention.”
As well as a telltale skin rash, fever, vomiting, headache and feeling unwell are common signs of meningitis in children.
According to the charity Meningitis Now, these symptoms can appear in any order and some may not appear at all.
