Girl fights for life after coming down with meningitis weeks after parents’ wedding

July 7, 2016

Brogan Lei Partridge was initially diagnosed with an eye infection by GP
Was rushed to hospital after her mother noticed a rash had developed
She is now responding to treatment but faces having her toes amputated

Kate Pickles For Mailonline

Published:
04:45 EST, 6 July 2016

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Updated:
06:21 EST, 6 July 2016

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These harrowing photographs show how meningitis ravaged a schoolgirl’s body – days after she was a bridesmaid at her parents’ wedding.

Brogan-Lei was left fighting for her life less than a fortnight after she walked down the aisle with parents Aimee and Craig Partridge.

The potentially fatal disease struck while the seven-year-old was on a family honeymoon in Cornwall.

It left her battling the same infection which killed tragic toddler Faye Burdett in February.

Brogan’s parents agreed to publish pictures of her at Birmingham Children’s Hospital where they said she had been saved ‘100 times already’.

Brogan-Lei Partridge was left fighting for her life after developing Meningitis B while on a family holiday for her parents’honeymoon’

The rash took over Brogan-Lei’s legs and the seven year old now faces having her toes amputated and skin grafts after battling the deadly infection

Brogan is now responding to treatment but faces surgery to remove toes on her left foot, and several skin grafts to repair damage to her legs.

‘This week has totally changed my outlook on life,’ said Mrs Partridge, 25.

‘It has shown what’s important and what isn’t, who’s there and who isn’t.

‘All the little things we thought were important to us suddenly aren’t any more.

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‘Me and Craig just want to remind everyone how overwhelmed and grateful we are for all the help and offers we’ve received from people near and far.’

Brogan, who has a brother and two sisters, was struck with a suspected eye infection following the wedding, which took place on June 18.

She was given antibiotics but was rushed to hospital on June 27 after the family returned from Cornwall.

Her mother noticed a rash on her daughter’s skin and went to see their GP before she was rushed to hospital.

Doctors diagnosed the deadly bacterial infection which had already done so much damaged they feared she would lose her foot.

But thankfully she rallied and now medics are hopeful she will only need a few toes removing.

Brogan was given antibiotics but was rushed to hospital on June 27, after the family returned from Cornwall, when her mother noticed a rash on her daughter’s skin and went to see their GP

Friends and relatives have launched a fundraising campaign for Brogan and the Children’s Hospital, which had reached more than £2,000.

Speaking through a friend, the trainee midwife and car parts worker Mr Partridge, 29, said: ‘We would like to raise awareness for Meningitis B and the symptoms.

‘There isn’t a standard immunisation through the NHS and a lot of people are unaware of the dangers because the infection disguises itself in among common bugs.’

Their awareness drive comes after the release of shocking pictures of two-year-old Faye Burdett who died earlier this year.

Her tragic death sparked a surge in demand for the Bexsero vaccine as worried parents hurried to get their children immunised privately.

She was too old to receive the vaccination under current guidelines, which is available on the NHS for babies aged from two to five months.

Children under the age of one have been vaccinated on the NHS since last year but those born before May 2015 are excluded from the programme.

Mrs Partridge’s cousin Lisa Reece, 28, from Castle Bromwich, said she could not hold back the tears when she visited Brogan.

‘Nothing can prepare you for what meningitis does to a body, let alone a little seven-year-old girl,’ she said.

‘You see it in pictures but in reality, it’s much, much more than just a ‘rash’. Dark and deep tissue damage is visible and a lot of surgery will be required.’

Brogan has recorded a tear jerking video message from here hospital bed thanking well-wishers.

Her arm bandaged and the rashes caused by the illness still clearly visible, Brogan says: ‘Thank you everybody for being so kind. I know you all want me to get better soon. I’m going to do it.’

To view it or donate visit www.gofundme.com/SuperheroBrogan

WHAT IS MENINGITIS B AND WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR THE VACCINE?

Meningitis B is a bacterial infection, most often striking in children under one year old.

Symptoms include a high temperature with cold hands and feet, confusion, vomiting and headaches.

If caught early and treated with antibiotics, most people will make a full recovery.

There are about 1,200 cases each year in the UK.

The meningitis B vaccine is currently given to babies up to 12 months

In 2014, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, the expert body which advises the government on vaccinations, recommended that babies be given the meningitis B vaccine, from two months of age.

The committee had previously ruled that the vaccine should not be introduced – because, it said, it was not cost-effective.

It was announced in June that the vaccine would be given to all babies when they reached two months of age.

Booster jabs are also given at four months and 12 months as part of the childhood immunisation programme from September 2015.

The idea was to protect those most at risk – with cases of meningitis B peaking in infants at around five or six months of age.

The JCVI did advise a catch-up programme for slightly older babies who were three or four months old in September 2015 – but not for any other age group.

The campaign to get all children immunised up the age off 11 became the most signed in Downing Street history.

It led to two evidence sessions where experts and affected families spoke to the Commons Petitions Committee before a debate among MPs.

But hopes it would lead to a reform were dashed when Health Minister Jane Ellison said: ‘I’ve been reassured that the programme we have is the right one, targeting the group of children at highest risk of disease and death.’