One day you feel a little bit under the weather. You’ve got a headache and feel a bit sick - normal stuff. You conclude that you’re coming down with a stomach bug. Nothing to worry about, right?

Wrong. The next day, you’re dead. 

No time to say goodbye to anyone, all your organs have shut down. 

Not ideal, but that’s meningitis for you.

Meningitis is a viral or bacterial infection of the membranes around your brain and spinal cord - and it can affect anyone. Especially babies, young children, teenagers and young adults. Harsh.

‘Not to worry,’ you’re thinking, ‘I’ll just stay away from people with meningitis.’

Nice try, pal. Meningitis is usually caught from people who are NOT ill themselves. Anyone could be carrying the viruses/bacteria, unknowingly waiting to infect you via something as unremarkable as a sneeze. How scary is that?!

That’s probably enough fear-mongering for one day. Let’s look on the bright side: only 1 in every 10 cases of bacterial meningitis is fatal.

And it’s estimated that up to 30-50% of those who survive bacterial meningitis are left with one or more permanent problems and suffer physical, neurological and physiological after-effects! Oh wait. That's bad too. See, I told you it was awful. 

That’s why I’m dragging my lazy arse round the Vitality London 10k for Meningitis Now. 

MN is a charity that helps fund research, raise awareness and look after the survivors of meningitis and its associated conditions. 

(Definitely not just running because I want an orange vest with my name on it)

I like to think that if they get enough funding, they can wipe the bugger out forever so nobody has to suffer from this devastating illness ever again.

Any donation, no matter how small, is massively appreciated. Every little helps, etc.

Thank you for reading this, even if you’re not planning to donate. 

You can find out more about meningitis and septicaemia here: https://www.meningitisnow.org/meningitis-explained/

Or here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/meningitis/

Please do give those pages a glance if you have time - spotting the symptoms early saves lives.