Kaela’s Story

In 2007, then 21-year-old Kaela had spent the New Year celebrating with friends, unaware that in a few days, the stomach flu she had thought she’d recovered from would turn out to be meningitis, resulting in a two-year battle for her health, a kidney transplant and a long road to recovery.

Prior to falling ill, Kaela had very little knowledge of meningitis, and how severe the impact of the illness would be. She recalls a few years earlier there had been a public health drive, encouraging vaccinations for 18 year olds and under, and remembers seeing a pamphlet in her GP’s office that mentioned the glass test for the rash associated with meningitis. She would soon come to learn this rash was actually a form of internal bleeding, and recognising its appearance would be the pivotal moment that saw action taken to save her life.

Three days after returning from her New Year's trip, Kaela still wasn’t feeling entirely well and began to develop severe pain in her hip. By that night, Kaela was unable to sleep due to the pain and early the next morning she had a friend take her to the hospital emergency department, as the GP was closed over the holiday period, a coincidence that she says ultimately saved her life.

The next 12 hours in the ED were spent running several tests, attempting to determine the cause of Kaela’s rapidly declining health, which included the loss of her eyesight and hearing in one ear. It wasn’t until Kaela lifted her arm that a nurse spotted the telltale rash on her wrist and immediately alerted doctors. Kaela remembers the room being cleared almost instantly.

“They got everyone out of the room, and all these people came back in dressed in full protective gear,” she recalls. “The gowns, the masks, the gloves, everything, and then that’s kind of my last memory of that day.”

Following this moment, Kaela was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit, where she was put on life support and slipped into a coma for three weeks. During this time, her family was told by doctors to come say their goodbyes to Kaela, fearing she may not survive the ordeal her body had been through, something Kaela says was incredibly traumatic for her loved ones.

Although Kaela’s condition eventually stabilised and she began dialysis treatment, there was still the concern of permanent brain damage or loss of limbs, which was something Kaela’s family and her doctors took day by day. After being transferred to the ward, Kaela was rushed back to the Intensive Care one night, as an influx of fluid due to kidney failure caused internal near drowning.

For 18 months following her discharge from the hospital, Kaela regularly returned every second or third day to receive hemodialysis, each session lasting up to six hours. Kaela says during this time her entire life was dictated by her illness until the eventual kidney donation she received from her Mum drastically improved the quality of her life.

Kaela says it took almost six years following her meningitis diagnosis before she was able to begin processing what had happened and was eventually diagnosed with PTSD as a result of the life-threatening ordeal.

“It’s interesting because it wasn’t just being really unwell and being on life support,” she says. “It was going home and having to work through everything that came after that; the mental and emotional side of it.”

16 years on, Kaela still experiences health issues as a result of contracting meningitis, including fatigue, headaches, nausea, and a lack of concentration on a near daily basis.

Kaela says she is open to speaking about her experience now and wants to encourage people to seek medical attention if something doesn’t feel right. A push for awareness of the vaccines available is also something Kaela is also hoping to see in the public health system.

“Everyone knows about the vaccines for infants and toddlers, measles, mumps, rubella; they’ve been around for so long,” she says. “But the meningococcal vaccines are just as important and need to be talked about more.”