"The Meningitis Centre is striving to eliminate Meningitis in Australia by lobbying for vaccines and educating the community to be aware of the signs and symptoms. The Centre also provides support for families affected by the disease"
The day Adam Selwood’s mum thought her little boy had died
Bendigo doctor tells of his dramatic personal experience with a meningitis baby
By Dr Dennis O’Connor
The mum was ashen and frightened, carrying her small child in her arms. I was in the reception area at my Bendigo surgery when she handed him to me and asked: “Is he dead?”
The mother was Maree Selwood and the two-year-old child was her son Adam.
I had not met the family formerly before this day, although I knew of them.
In a town like Bendigo you tend to know something about almost everyone.
I did know that Adam was the same age as my eldest son and the personal impact of a sick child was therefore escalated… I thought, it could have been my boy!
I had been in private General Practice only a few months, but fortunately was confident with children and had a good grounding in paediatrics from the local paediatricians.
Maree told me of Adam’s relatively acute illness on that day.
He had become febrile (feverish) with some symptoms of a runny nose. He had gone down for a sleep and become difficult to arouse.
She bundled him into her car and was planning to take Adam to their usual GP about three kilometres away in central Bendigo. However, Adam’s condition had got worse and by the time she was on the main road outside my surgery he was unconscious.
She turned into our driveway and brought him in.
I remember the day vividly - and particularly Maree’s first three words. I think I replied that he was alive but unconscious.
I took him to our treatment room and asked the receptionist to call an ambulance.
“…the admitting officer was sceptical of my diagnosis.”
Adam was unconscious but breathing, he was febrile and a general examination revealed little else.
My immediate conclusion was that he was likely to have meningitis.
I rang the Bendigo Base Hospital’s emergency room and spoke to the admitting officer to prepare them for Adam’s arrival.
I learned later from the emergency department’s charge nurse that the admitting officer was sceptical of my diagnosis.
However, the nurse actually stuck up for me and said that if Dennis thought the child had meningitis then he probably did - and to get organised to accept a very sick child.
The ambulance arrived promptly, but at the time it probably felt like a lifetime.
After Adam’s admission to the Bendigo hospital, I spoke to John the paediatrician.
He has happy with Adam’s general state and had begun him on two types of antibiotics while awaiting the specific diagnosis from his lumbar puncture.
His comment was that he thought it was Haemophilus influenzae meningitis.
“They are all haemophilus,” he said.
Adams illness was acute but his recovery was rapid.
He had a number of follow up visits with John to assess his progress and check for any adverse effects of his infection. Luckily, he escaped these.
Over the subsequent years I have been the Selwood family’s doctor and have had pleasure in seeing all four boys grow up.
“..it is no surprise that I am a strong advocate for immunisation.”
Our paths have intertwined outside the surgery through local football and other sporting events, occasional meetings at church and the inevitable pick up from adolescent parties.
We now immunise all children against Haemophilus and more recently Meningococcus which no doubt has reduced the incidence of these severe infections.
Having seen the realities of a case like Adam it is no surprise that I am a strong advocate for immunisation.
I don’t believe that I did anything that improved Adam’s outcome and think that the awareness and actions of Maree - and the type of infection - was the difference between a good and disastrous outcome.
The most terrifying day of my life
Read Mrs Maree Selwood's story and she shares her story of when son, West Coast Eagles champion Adam Selwood contracted meningitis.
