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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Entertainment
Ryan Paton

Mum's quick-thinking saves daughter's life after she spots deadly disease symptoms

A student claims her mum saved her life after she spotted symptoms of a deadly disease .

Alice Jenkins, 19, initially thought she had covid when she woke up on May 18 with aching limbs and a temperature. The University of Edinburgh student tried to sleep off her illness, but woke up from a nap dripping with sweat and had a rash.

Alice attributed her muscle pain to falling over playing netball a few days before, but her mum, Sarah, was concerned when she described her symptoms during a FaceTime call. The 58-year-old urged her daughter to do a "tumbler test" and press a glass against the rash to see if it disappeared.

READ MORE: Mum, 37, diagnosed with terminal cancer as doctors spot symptoms while she gave birth

When it didn't, she told Alice to dial 999. The student was taken to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, and eventually diagnosed with meningitis.

Sarah, who serves as a magistrate, was clued up on the symptoms of the disease as a neighbour's daughter had died of it aged only 14. Her quick-thinking meant Alice, who hails from Surrey, was able to get medical treatment immediately.

This meant she has suffered no lasting damage - unlike many young people who can end up with hearing loss, paralysis or brain damage from the illness. Alice, who studies PPE, was unconscious after she became so ill at the hospital and can barely remember the ordeal.

Within 24 hours she was aware of medics around her talking about paralysis, but both parents rushed to be with her. On May 19 she was taken to the infectious disease unit at the Western General Hospital

She was discharged on May 24. Now on holiday in Croatia, Alice believes her mum's quick thinking saved her life.

Alice Jenkins said her mum's quick-thinking saved her life (Courtesy Alice Jenkins / SWNS)

Alice said: "If I hadn't have had the rash I wouldn't have gone into hospital, all I had was aching limbs and a temperature. The week before my flatmates had covid, the typical symptoms of meningitis like a stiff neck and being sick didn't start until I was in hospital.

"When I got into hospital they put me on antibiotics, steroids and antivirals, without knowing what it was. I was really scared to go to A&E, I woke up that night with a rash and Facetimed my mum who was saying 'phone 999'.

"I was saying 'I don't want to', but a friend did it for me." A friend from home, Kirstin Malcolm, 19, went to the hospital to keep Alice company and kept in touch with her parents, later bringing her a bag packed when they found out she would be staying in.

Kirstin was alarmed when she received a text from Alice to say she was in A&E. She held a carboard sick bowl for her friend who was vomiting "black coloured bile" and appeared to only be able to communicate by blinking, before being moved to an Acute Medical Unit.

Alice said: "It was probably easier for me because I didn't know what was going on. I couldn't Google it so I didn't know how dangerous it is." A lumber puncture test diagnosed meningococcal group B, which Alice had been vaccinated against aged about 14.

She urged other young people to check whether their vaccinations had expired and to book a booster if they had, as hers ran out in January. Meningitis is an inflammation of the brain which can be spread by kissing, sneezing and coughing - although Alice told Public Health Scotland she had no idea where she could have got it from.

Nobody else in her halls or that she knows became ill with it, but she described the reaction of her friends' parents as "petrified" when they found out about it. She said: "I didn't have a headache until I got into hospital, or a stiff neck, or throwing up. When they did a lumber puncture they said I could be paralysed or get septicaemia, or lose fingers or toes, or get hearing loss, or brain damage.

"They had to keep me away from people because meningitis is contagious, it was pretty lonely but I had a Percy Pig toy with me. Because I slept so much it was less lonely."

Her dad Richard, 58, cut short a cycling holiday in Italy to visit her and her mum got the first train to Edinburgh from Surrey. Alice said: "I didn't even kiss anyone - but I'm thankful it didn't happen on holiday.

"I was meant to be going to Marbella but that got cancelled but the doctors didn't think I'd be well enough to go to Croatia either. It is scary - I was planning to go clubbing on the Wednesday but I woke up and didn't feel that well, and within five hours I was in hospital.

"We are more aware as a family because we know someone who died from it, but we didn't know vaccination expires. My chances were one in ten, but I feel completely myself now."

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