Rugby’s Matt tells of his ‘ two- week hell’ as son fought meningitis
RUGBY star and TV personality Matt Dawson has shared heartbreaking photographs of his son battling meningitis in what he described as “two weeks of hell”.
The former England rugby union captain posted the distressing images of two- yearold Sami as he revealed the boy had been fighting the potentially fatal illness.
Thankfully the youngster has now recovered.
Former Northampton Saints star Dawson, 43, shared a number of shocking pictures of his son on social media site Twitter.
They show the little boy as he fought the disease from his bed at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.
The BBC Question Of Sport captain said he and his wife Carolin Hauskeller, 42, had been debating whether or not to post the pictures.
Sharing them with his 250,000 followers, Dawson said: “The two weeks of hell we’ve just had cos of meningitis. Sami lucky due to amazing people @ GreatOrmondSt. # vaccinate NOW”
Earlier he had tweeted: “‘ Been umming and ahhhing about whether I should write the next post but my wife and I have agreed it’s important. The pic may be upsetting.’
One shows little Sami hooked up to wires with his chest and arms covered in red marks.
Another shows him looking tearful and terribly poorly in his hospital bed.
A more cheerful photograph shows Sami on the road to recovery and being hugged by his big brother Alex. Another shows him with his brother and a very relieved Dawson in hospital.
Dawson’s “vaccinate now” call comes as a campaign has been launched to get more children vaccinated against the disease. Hundreds of thousands of people backed a petition to get the meningitis B vaccine extended to all children and not just babies.
By last night almost 300,000 people had signed the petition, which guarantees there will be a debate in Parliament on the issue.
Each year there are 3,200 cases of bacterial meningitis in the UK, with one in 10 of those exposed to it dying.
Some victims have to have limbs amputated because of blood poisoning, while others suffer brain damage.