Penelope Vidal-Walsh, 10, told her mum she felt sick and hours later was in intensive care
Penelope Vidal-Walsh, 10, told her mum she felt sick and hours later was in intensive care
A schoolgirl who went to bed like any normal night has spent the last eight days sedated in intensive care, after waking up with a ‘bruise many parents wouldn’t suspect as unusual.’
Last Wednesday (April 10), Penelope Vidal-Walsh, 10, from Southport, told her parents she felt unwell before going to bed around 9pm. The ten-year-old woke up at around 2am and vomited. Her dad, Ricardo Vidal, put her in the bath and “checked her over” but didn’t spot anything of concern, so the schoolgirl went back to bed.
The family woke up the next morning and Penelope had breakfast but was sick again at around 8.30am. Dad put her in the bath but this time noticed a small purple mark on her neck. But after she got dressed after her bath, her mum, Elizabeth, and dad noticed another purple rash on her knee.
Penelope’s aunt, Angel Walsh, 35, told the ECHO how the quick-thinking parents tried ‘the glass’ test, which the NHS advises as a way to assess a rash, particularly when suspecting meningitis or septicaemia. By pressing a glass against the rash to see if it disappears under pressure, if the rash remains visible through the glass (a non-blanching rash), it’s a potential sign of a serious infection and immediate medical attention is needed.
When the rash remained visible they called 111 immediately. They were told to take Penelope straight to Ormskirk Hospital and by 9.30am she had been transferred to Alder Hey where she was diagnosed with meningitis, was sedated and taken to intensive care where she remains.
Angel said: “They started treating her immediately, she is breathing through a respirator. It’s touch and go, we were told the first 24 hours are the most dangerous and she has thankfully got through that but we don’t know what the future looks like. There’s no clear pathway of recovery with this sort of thing, every case is so different.
“Yesterday we had a good update that the meningitis infection has now gone and she has meningococcal disease now and it’s about the recovery. There’s so many risks from limb damage, sight and hearing, to a brain injury. The infection can get to her brain. Thankfully, a brain scan came back clear but it’s all quite uncertain at the moment.”
The family wants to create awareness of the “scary” illness and warn people of the symptoms to look out for. Angel said: “It’s scary how it came out of nowhere, we’re so lucky because if the rash had appeared 12 hours earlier when it was dark her parents might not have seen it and she could have gone to bed and never woken up. We’re so thankful it was light when the rash appeared and her parents spotted it.
“It was the worst news her mum and dad could have got, the only positive thing is that they spotted it and acted so quickly. We have three children and I don’t think we would have been aware enough to act so quickly, I didn’t even know what a meningitis rash looked like. I thought it would be like a normal heat rash and we want to make other parents aware so they know what to look out for.
“If your child is complaining of feeling unwell, take them to the doctors to be checked out because you don’t know what it could be. It’s scary how quickly it happened.”
She added: “It was her parents’ worst fear, it was the worst news they could have got and it’s been really hard. It has impacted us all. Penelope is ten, our kids are nine and 11, they are really close cousins. They have been really concerned about her and the kids are worried it will happen to them, so the whole family has stopped what they are doing to be by her side. Her parents haven’t been able to go to work and have been by her bedside.”
To support the family Angel and her husband Joe have set up a GoFundMe to raise money to support the family while Penelope recovers. She added: “Unfortunately bills don’t stop and they haven’t been able to go to work. We just want to help in any way we can, we feel useless.”
You can donate to the GoFundMe for Penelope and her family here.
Symptoms of meningitis and sepsis include:
- a high temperature
- cold hands and feet
- vomiting
- confusion
- breathing quickly
- muscle and joint pain
- pale, mottled or blotchy skin (this may be harder to see on brown or black skin)
- spots or a rash (this may be harder to see on brown or black skin)
- headache
- a stiff neck
- a dislike of bright lights
- being very sleepy or difficult to wake
- fits (seizures)
Babies may also:
- refuse feeds
- be irritable
- have a high-pitched cry
- have a stiff body or be floppy or unresponsive
- have a bulging soft spot on the top of their head
