Mum-of-two Leonie Colegrave, 25, says that she knew something was up with baby George but delayed in taking baby George to hospital because she was worried about wasting doctors' time.
She was horrified when doctors then told her that George might not pull through from the deadly disease at just 16 days old.
She claims that the delay was due to her experiences of getting her eldest son help in the past.
"When I was in A&E with my eldest after he had an asthma attack when he was two, there was a baby who was weeks old and was crying," Leonie recalled.
"I remember a nurse said, 'if I had a pound for every time a mother brought a baby in when he was crying then I wouldn't need to work'.
"That was playing in my mind when George was upset. I was thinking, can I really take my son to A&E because he's crying?
"If there's nothing else wrong with him, can I really take him to A&E because he's crying?
"I didn't want to be that mum who seeks help for no reason because I'm not really that type of mum."
But after a night of crying, George still had a temperature the next morning, so Leonie took him to the GP.
From there, he was rushed to intensive care with suspected meningitis.
Distraught Leonie and her partner Jamie West, 32, had to watch helplessly on as their tiny baby was hooked up to wires.
Now 12-weeks-old, George is on the road to recovery but has been left brain damaged.
Leonie, from Southampton, Hants, said: "Seeing my baby in intensive care like that, I don't think I could put into words how I felt even if I tried.
"It was overwhelming to see him because I wanted to pick him up. I wanted to hug him. I wanted to make him better.
"But it was out of my hands and all I could do was stand by his bed and hold his hand.
"It was almost like guilt because I needed to make him better because I'm his mum and that's what mums should do. But there was nothing more I could do."
She says that she tends to treat her kids at home if they're poorly but that George seemed to go from healthy to unwell in "a split second".
"It was a split second moment where everything changed. He was fine. Even the health visitor saw him that very day and he was fine.
Symptoms of meningitis
Meningitis can affect anyone but it's more common in younger people – from babies to students.
If it's not treated ASAP, it can cause life-threatening blood poisoning and can perminently damage the brain or nerves.
Around 3,200 people a year get bacterial meningitis, with one in ten dying from it.
The symptoms of meningitis develop suddenly and include:
- A high fever over 37.5 degrees – the average human temperature
- being sick
- a headache
- a blotchy rash that doesn't fade when a glass is rolled over it
- stiffness, especially in the neck
- sensitivity to bright lights
- drowsiness, irritability or lack of energy
- cold hands and feet
- seizures
In babies, the symptoms can be slightly different. They include:
- refuse to eat
- be agitated and not want to be picked up
- have a bulging soft spot in their head
- be floppy and unresponsive
- have an unusual, high-pitched cry
- have a stiff body
If you or your baby have any of these, get to a GP or A&E department as quickly as possible
"But then he wasn't. He went from being absolutely fine to suddenly not being.
"You should always trust your instinct. Always trust it.
"Now, looking back, I would rather be fobbed off a million times for something viral than sit at home and think 'is there something wrong' and watch them become that poorly.
"I was praised by every health professional who came to see George, from the neurologist to the nurses to the doctor to the consultant, for getting him in that quickly.
"But I've always thought, what if I didn't? What if I didn't get him to the doctor?
"What if I'd have waited until lunchtime or tea time to see what would happen? It could have turned out so much worse."
George had seemed fine during his night feed but after two hours of crying, George finally started making odd grunting noises as he breathed.
It wasn't until he didn't stir for breakfast a couple of hours later that Leonie realised he had a temperature of 39.2'C.
Teaching assistant Leonie said: "When you're pregnant, you worry about everything because it's down to you to keep them safe and deliver them.
"Then when they're born and you take them home, you don't ever expect that two weeks later you're going to be back there waiting to see if they're going to live or die.
"Meningitis used to seem like it was something that you hear about and something that you know about, but not something that happens to you or anyone you know.
"I've always known about meningitis. My older son is nearly seven and the amount of times I've rolled a glass over him when he's had a heat rash is crazy."
She says that because George didn't have a rash, however, she didn't even consider that that could be the problem.
Leonie eventually rang 111 and was told to get the baby to a GP within the next two hours.
"The doctor told us to take George straight into the paediatrics assessment unit. We walked through the door and there were four doctors and nurses waiting for us.
"That's when I knew something was wrong because normally you have to wait an hour before anyone comes to call you, but I just thought that perhaps it was because he was so small."
After having his bloods and temperature taken, little George was rushed into intensive care to be put on a ventilator.
"That's when it hit us. We looked at each other. I had no words. That's probably the first time in my life I've had no words.
"I said to the consultant, 'can you just tell me if he is going to die?' It was probably the hardest thing I've ever said in my life, asking if my child was going to die.
"He said, 'I can't tell you no'. But I pushed a bit harder because I needed to know. I needed to prepare myself.
"He said, 'He's presented well, he's not had any seizures or stopped breathing. A lot of people only know that their baby has meningitis when they stop breathing'.
"In the back of my mind I had to hope for the best and prepare for the worst."
Doctors thought that he might have contracted a deadly strain of bacterial meningitis, passed onto him during labour.
After spending two agonising days in an induced coma, George was finally allowed to wake back up – after which doctors discovered that the deadly bacteria had starved his brain of oxygen.
It's unclear how that might affect him as he grows up.
"It's only a small amount of damage but it is damaged. No one can tell us what that will mean for George, how that will affect him.
Leonie said: "I've done some research and it can cause ADHD and autism. It's that part of the brain that can control emotions.
"But I've tried not to do too much googling and research into it because every child is different and he's still very young.
"There will be days where what happened to him doesn't cross my mind at all and there will be days where I look at George and cry because of everything he's been through and how strong he is.
"He's really happy. He's only 12 weeks old so he's quite young, but he's cheeky. You can see he's going to be cheeky. He's so smiley and so happy."
By the time he was released from hospital two and a half weeks later, baby George had spent nearly half of his life inside the hospital.
Now Leonie wants to raise awareness of George's story to urge other parents to not be afraid to seek medical advice.
Leonie said: "I know George's brain has been damaged and that we don't know what that will mean for him.
"But that to me is a small price to pay because he's here and he's alive and healthy and we have him. There are so many people out there who haven't got their children.
"It wasn't until the doctor said it was meningitis that it crossed my mind. I didn't realise how poorly he was. That's why I want to raise awareness.
"When I was sat in intensive care watching him on a ventilator, watching something else breathe for my baby, I thought 'there will be so many people out there who won't go to the doctor'.
"They won't realise how poorly their child is just because their child has a temperature or isn't themselves. I decided I needed to tell people."
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