Real-life reads
Dad’s meningitis hell: I’m a shell of my former self; Lawyer with sole;
Walking into the home of young father Chris Symmans, you can see the tiredness under his eyes. There’s stubble on his chin and fatigue has pulled him onto the couch, where he’s resting with toddler Leo on his knee, recovering from a five-day headache.
The dad-of-two is tired but welcoming as he speaks to
Woman’s Day in his Upper Hutt lounge a year after he mysteriously contracted bacterial meningitis. His wife of four years, Keara, jiggles their daughter Freya on her hip, filling in any blanks of the frightening story that Chris can’t remember.
Along with short-term memory loss, headaches and chronic fatigue syndrome, the 25-year-old suffers hearing loss in his right ear, and occasional delayed speech and movement, because of the disease that almost killed him a year ago.
In July 2017, the qualified chef finished work and came home to Leo, now two, and Keara, who was five months pregnant with Freya, feeling tired and nauseous.
“I had a temperature but was
cold and shivering on the couch,” tells Chris, who figured it was something he ate. “I had a shower and came out feeling a little better but asked Keara, ‘What just happened?’”
Keara, also 25, recalls, “I got him a bucket and water, then sent him to bed. We later found out the confusion was caused by his brain swelling, placing pressure on a memory node.”
Chris spent the night being sick, waking with a dotty purple rash over his chest, neck and face. While Keara stayed home with Leo, Chris visited his GP.
“I developed chest pains in the waiting room and had difficulty breathing, so a nurse saw me early and did a few tests,” he explains.
After throwing up at the clinic, Chris was told it was probably food poisoning and the rash was likely broken blood vessels from vomiting. He was sent home.
“That’s where my memory gets a little hazy.”
When Chris returned home, he stumbled out of the car and into the house, before Keara drove her panicked hubby to hospital, where they were put in a corridor to wait.
“He started playing on his phone, saying he felt better and d I got a little li l annoyed d because it was near Leo’s dinner time,” admits Keara.
“I left and got Chris’ dad to pick him up because he’d obviously improved, but we’ve since read with meningitis you can feel a whole lot better before you go downhill.”
Keara left the hospital at 3pm and by 4pm, when his dad arrived, Chris was barely coherent. Keara received a call to say it might be meningitis and by the time she got to hospital, Chris was in a coma. After antibiotics and a lumbar puncture, a CT scan confirmed it was bacterial meningitis.
“I felt awful because I left him there,” Keara says shakily. “I can’t believe I felt annoyed.”
From a window overlooking his ICU room, she watched her husband fighting for his life as a confused young Leo clawed at the glass to try to reach his dad.
Keara recalls, “We weren’t allowed to go in because I was pregnant and Leo was so young. I was thinking I’d be planning my husband’s funeral f l and d giving i i birth bi h alone, l without my best friend.”
Miraculously, Chris survived thanks to his early diagnosis and a cocktail of antibiotics.
Anyone in contact with Chris two weeks prior was checked or given antibiotics, while Keara was educated about the importance of keeping their house warm and clean because of Chris’ impaired immune system.
Chris, whose memories of his time in hospital are distorted, woke on the Saturday in 30-second stints.
He tells, “I vaguely remember calling out for Mum and recall her smell, but not her presence. I remember my sister being there, and everyone wearing face masks and gloves.”
Two days after being admitted to hospital, Chris was finally allowed to touch Keara and Leo.
“Chris cried and apologised, saying, ‘I haven’t changed a nappy in four days or done bedtime. I’m sorry, but I’m coming home!’” Keara laughs.
“He was home two days
later l but b was a shell h ll of fhi himself. lf You couldn’t talk to him – he just slept.”
Tiredness consumed Chris, with even a 15-minute shave requiring a four-hour sleep to recover. One year on, Chris is slowly improving and can sometimes work a few hours on a building site with his father-in-law, but he’s still plagued by exhaustion.
“Chris is recovering from a brain injury, so it’s a day-by-day thing,” Keara explains. “He has good and bad days.”
A good day involves taking cheerful tot Leo to his 40-minute gym class or the park, followed by enjoying dinner with his family. Each morning, he aims to accomplish more than the day before, including being active a couple of minutes longer or visiting a friend.
Now the couple want to warn others about meningitis and its often unrecognised symptoms. “We’re really lucky we got Chris to the hospital in time,” says Keara. “If he’d gone back to bed, he wouldn’t have woken up.”