Joel's Story, Narooma, New South Wales
My name is Joel and I am 18 and live in Narooma on the south coast of N.S.W.
I was at work when I first felt sick on the 12th January 2007, I had a fever and felt so ill I was unable to keep working. I rang my boss to tell him I was going home. When I arrived home I just wanted to sleep so went to bed and I woke up that night at 6:00pm and vomited and I was confused and thought it was the next morning.
I also had really sore joints and muscles so I went back to bed to sleep some more thinking I must have picked up some sort of virus.
The next morning my father woke me to go to golf but I was still feeling the same way as the day before and had a thumping headache also. I got up and went to the bathroom and it was then I noticed I had a purple rash on my stomach in blotches, I walked out to dad and asked what he thought it was and he wasnt sure so thats when I started to panic and told him I thought it was Meningococcal.
Dad rang the doctors but as it was a Saturday he was unable to reach anyone so I went and waited in the car and we drive to Moruya hospital. On arrival I could barely walk and was very dizzy and felt so sick. When we arrived in the Emergency Department the receptionist asked what the problem was and I told her that I thought I had Meningococcal and she quickly got me onto a bed.
In Moruya hospital they did tests and administered antibiotics. After two hours they called a helicopter and I was air lifted to Canberra hospital where they continued to treat me for the disease. I was in hospital for a week.
They treated me with antibiotics and painkillers for the 8 days I was in hospital, the pain killers were for the headaches I was getting from the disease.
After my 8 days in hospital it took me about 2 months to start to feel better and I have no on going problems at this stage. However I still continue to have blood tests to monitor my health and to check that nothing has recurred in my system as my liver had showed damage when I was in hospital.
