Health. Were very lucky

A year ago, Elaine Hamlyn didn't know what the effects of meningitis looked like. Today, she's charged with warning other parents what to look for in this infection that can take someone's life in a matter of hours from detection.
She knows them now all too well herself, after watching her daughter go from what seemed like a common cold to an induced coma and within minutes of death.
Last December, her 16-year-old daughter Lacey had what seemed like a nagging flu or cold. But on Jan. 7, Lacey became violently ill, waking her mother up with her calls.
"I heard her call out and she was delirious. We're so lucky it happened then, because if it had been 3 o'clock in the morning, I might not have heard her call out, and time is everything with this disease," said Hamlyn.
Lacey was taken to the Janeway, and her mother credits medical staff for recognizing the symptoms right away. Still, when the girl was in the pediatric intensive care unit, doctors told her mother they didn't know whether she would live.
It's something that horrifies the two to this day.
"I didn't know the signs and symptoms. … I had no idea. If I had known, I think I would have brought Lacey to the hospital earlier than we did, and we're very fortunate," said Hamlyn.
The Mount Pearl woman is also happy there were no long-term health effects with her daughter, which are likely with cases of meningitis.
"In a lot of cases, people aren't so lucky. Quite a few people have hearing impairments. You can also have amputations. One mom I've met, her son has very bad scarring on his hands, and amputations below his knees.
"But Lacey escaped that and I know we're very lucky."
Now Hamlyn and her daughter are concerned for others, especially as the cold and flu season approaches.
In contacting the Meningitis Research Foundation of Canada over her daughter's experience, Hamlyn has become the regional co-ordinator for the group in this province, a position she has held since last month.
"It's not as rare as one might think. It seems like people know somebody who has had meningitis. I think we really need to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms, and also that there's a vaccine out there. It's new and approved in P.E.I. and New Brunswick."

Immunization program
One of Hamlyn's missions is to lobby the provincial government to make the vaccine, which helps ward off four forms of meningitis, a part of the province's general immunization program.
"There are still kids dying of these diseases that are potentially vaccine-preventable. I think people need to know that could potentially save them if they contracted meningitis."
Meanwhile, the vaccine is available through local doctors at a cost of $155, she says.
Lacey says her health ordeal has changed her life.
"I'm very health conscious now. It's given me a perspective on things, like don't put anything off that you need to go for, because you never know what's going to happen. You could be fine today, and sick tomorrow."
Lacey ended up staying in hospital for two weeks, missed 12 days of school and was physically weak for some time after.
Some of her friends have also learned from her experience, refraining from sharing drinking glasses.
Lacey says her story serves as a warning to other teens.
"Don't think you're invincible. I thought it would never happen to me, but you can't think that. It can happen to anybody. You never know. No teenager is invincible."
Meningitis can come in different forms such as viral, bacterial and fungal - viral meningitis being the least severe. Meningitis results in an inflammation of the lining around the brain and spinal cord.
It spreads by close contact, much like a cough or cold.

pbanks@thetelegram.com