I was 26 when I contracted bacterial meningitis and septicemia. I woke with an horrendous sore throat, when I look back it wasn't a 'normal' sore throat, it didn't start gradually, it was wham...just extremely painful. I developed a headache, pain is indescribable...I recently fractured a bone in my foot, and that was more bearable. I then had sickness, diarrhoea and began passing out. By the time I was admitted to hospital, 3 days had passed, and initially the hospital thought I had gastroenteritis. It wasn't until the septic rash appeared on the lower legs, that all hell broke loose. I couldn't breathe, unbeknown to me, the rash had spread to my lungs. The hospital put me into an induced coma, my vital organs had begun to shut down, so I was out on life support in ICU. I stayed on life support for 10 days, in ICU before I was moved to a High Dependency ward. I had been given a 30% chance of survival.
I didn't lose limbs/fingers/toes...I have minimal scaring from the rash on my lower legs. The meningitis has left me with: migraines, poor memory, anomic aphasia, slightly deaf in one ear, the other ear has damage, my brain takes longer to process information, I need instructions to be clear and concise, poor upper body strength and learning new things can be challenging.
I survived and that's the main thing. Many people don't or are left with far worse issues than me. For that I am eternally grateful.