{"id":4084,"date":"2025-08-30T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/?p=4084"},"modified":"2025-09-01T10:10:58","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T10:10:58","slug":"i-saw-my-daughter-on-facetime-and-knew-i-needed-to-act-fast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/30\/i-saw-my-daughter-on-facetime-and-knew-i-needed-to-act-fast\/","title":{"rendered":"I saw my daughter on FaceTime and knew I needed to act fast"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\"Kate\t<\/div>
She was three hours away at university in Manchester, I felt powerless to help her (Picture: Kate Spiers)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018I feel like I\u2019m dying.\u2019  <\/p>\n

That\u2019s the message I woke up to from my daughter, Sophia, one Wednesday morning in March 2023.    <\/p>\n

Normally I would have put such a text down to \u2018teenage dramatics\u2019, but on this occasion she was, terrifyingly, right on the money.  <\/p>\n

Looking back, Sophia\u2019s symptoms began on the Monday evening.  <\/p>\n

She\u2019d been to an evening training session with her lacrosse teammates <\/a>and had been complaining about achy limbs.    <\/p>\n

Presuming she\u2019d just overdone it, she took herself back to her hall of residence for dinner and bed.   <\/p>\n

On Tuesday morning, however, the vomiting started<\/a>.  <\/p>\n

She messaged me to say she was being sick every half hour and at first I assumed it was norovirus<\/a>. However, because she was three hours away at university<\/a> in Manchester<\/a>, I felt powerless to help her. All I could do was tell her to keep hydrated and keep messaging her to make sure she was okay.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Kate\t<\/div>
I phoned her immediately, but all I could hear on the other end was silence followed by a weird moaning noise (Picture: Kate Spiers)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the next 24 hours her aches, sickness and high temperature continued to worsen and, by the time she sent me that text on Wednesday morning, her symptoms had begun to progress into dizziness, confusion, a stiff neck, slight rash<\/a>, and cold hands and feet.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I phoned her immediately, but all I could hear on the other end was silence followed by a weird moaning noise. Then my phone started pinging with messages that were just a jumble of letters.  <\/p>\n

That\u2019s when I started to panic.  <\/p>\n

Switching to FaceTime<\/a>, I just wanted to see that my little girl was okay. Instead, I was met with an image I will never forget: a blank staring face, a wide-open mouth and glazed over eyes.  <\/p>\n

I could tell that Sophia was in her room, alone, but as she was unable to move, speak or type coherently I wasn\u2019t sure how I could help her. <\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Sophia\t<\/div>
I stayed on FaceTime and answered all of the paramedics questions on Sophia\u2019s behalf (Picture: Kate Spiers)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We suggested Sophia try to type 999 to her\u00a0flat WhatsApp<\/a> group, alerting her flatmates that something was wrong. They got the message and came to her room to help her.\u00a0We also contacted the halls’ security team who phoned for an ambulance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I stayed on FaceTime and answered all of the paramedics questions on Sophia\u2019s behalf. I felt totally helpless \u2013 interrupting with questions of my own seemed the wrong thing to do when the priority was getting to the bottom of what was happening. <\/p>\n

After what seemed like a lifetime of tick boxes and checks, I heard the paramedic saying the words \u2018heart attack<\/a>\u2019. I was shocked. <\/p>\n

As soon as I heard that the ambulance had arrived, I grabbed a few things and jumped in the car for the long drive to Manchester. <\/p>\n

By the time we arrived at the <\/strong>hospital <\/strong>Sophia had been diagnosed with sepsis<\/a>, which doctors suspected had been caused by meningitis<\/a> \u2013 the swelling of the protective membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\tMeningitis symptoms\t\t\t<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\n\t\t\"\"\t<\/div>
A graphic showing the signs and symptoms of meningitis.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Symptoms of meningitis include: <\/p>\n