Thursday 24th January 1991 was the start of our nightmare. Kimberley 15 had been out for the evening, I remember it being foggy outside when she was walking home. When she came in she said had an headache, took some paracetamols & went to bed. I check on her before I went to bed & she was fast asleep. 2am the following morning she called out for me as she said she did not feel well, call it mothers instinct but I rang our GP who came out straight away. He could not pinpoint anything wrong with her, but said he would come back before her started his surgery.
He came back at 8am & thought it was flu. About 10am I went back to check on Kimberley & noticed bruises on her arm, I immediately rang the GP who said he was sending an ambulance.
My best friend Norah & myself travelled in the ambulance with Kimberley to our local hospital. Following many tests we were informed Kimberley had Meningococcal Meningitis & Meningococcal Septicaemia. Later that day Kimberley was taken to ICU, & put onto life support, when myself & her dad sat with her. We were told the next 24 hours were crucial.
On Saturday 26th January 1991 my husband had to give his permission to turn Kimberley’s life support off.
A few weeks later we received a letter from Steve Dayman, who heard about Kimberley’s death through a local lorry driver who took the local newspaper to Steve. After many phone calls we took the decision to raise some money for research in Kimberley’s memory. With the help of our very dear friend Norah we raised over £12,000 which at that time was a lot of money. We have continued to Support Steve with his research in this devastating disease.
Today is 33 years since we lost Kimberley.
