HAVING your child suddenly go limp in your arms is every parent’s worst nightmare. But for an Inverkeithing mum, it saved her son’s life.

Gemma Baxter said if her son Matthew Lessells hadn’t gone completely floppy in her arms, it would never have crossed her mind that he had meningitis.

Matthew was just 13½ months old when he took ill on 6th July.

Gemma (27), of Fraser Avenue, said, “We had gone shopping in Livingston and came home around 4pm. I noticed he was trembling and had a very high temperature, 39.9°C.

“I gave him Calpol and because he had no other symptoms I just thought he was coming down with something.

“About 6pm he started throwing up and was sick again at 8pm. I thought it was a tummy bug.

“At 9.30pm he was trying to be sick - then he just collapsed. He went completely floppy and went blue at the lips.

“He had never reacted like that to any illness and that was when I realised something was terribly wrong.” A terrified Gemma called the ambulance and Matthew was rushed to the Victoria Hospital.

He was put on antibiotics and doctors suspected he had meningitis, which was confirmed two days later.

Gemma said, “In the ambulance, I thought they’d give him something and then they could send him home.

“When they said they were treating him for meningitis, my heart just sank.

“At the hospital, he was really sick and they thought of taking him to the Sick Kids in Edinburgh because they couldn’t get his blood pressure to stabilise.

He was completely unresponsive and was just staring off into space.

“His heart rate was 208 when it should only have been 120, he had two fans in his room to get his temperature down, canulas in his arms and feet and wires everywhere.” Luckily, Matthew started coming round on the third day and was well enough to be discharged on 11th July, Gemma’s birthday.

Now 15 months, he’s almost back to his old self and Gemma, who also has a three-year-old daughter, Hannah, now wants to raise awareness of meningitis to help save lives.

She said, “It affects around 20 Fifers a year, 150 in Scotland, and can kill in four hours.

“Collapsing saved his life. Otherwise I’d just have given him more Calpol and put him back to bed.

“It’s a good thing we caught it as early as we did. He didn’t have a rash or anything - that didn’t develop until he was in A and E.

“He has very mild hearing loss from the meningitis but when I think about how we nearly lost him, I’ll take that.” Meningitis is the inflammation of the lining around the brain and spinal cord and recognising the symptoms early is vital.

Among the symptoms to look out for in babies are: a tense or bulging soft spot; high temperature; a sleepy or staring expression; vomiting/refusing to feed; irritability when picked up, with a high pitch or moaning cry; fast/difficulty breathing; blotchy skin, getting paler or turning blue; extreme shivering; stiff body with jerky movements; floppiness/lifelessness; ‘pin-prick’ rash/marks or purple bruises on the body; cold hands and feet; pain/irritability from muscle aches or limb/joint pain.

Symptoms in older children and adults include: fever/vomiting; severe headache; stiff neck; dislike of bright lights; sleepiness/difficulty in waking up; confusion/deliriousness; rash (anywhere on the body); seizures.

Further information and support is available from Meningitis Research Foundation’s 24-hour Freephone helpline on 0808 800 3344 and online at http://www.meningitis.org.